


To Trust a Demon

by HetareKaori



Category: Shall We Date?: Obey Me!
Genre: English isn‘t my native language so I oop—, F/M, Female pronouns, Fluff, Multi, Romance, Slow Burn, Smut, Spoilers, because I couldn‘t care less about looking up all the dialogue from the game, depictions of violence, doesn‘t follow canon strictly, more ships might be added
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-28
Updated: 2020-09-29
Packaged: 2021-03-07 03:15:57
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 34,965
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26160109
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HetareKaori/pseuds/HetareKaori
Summary: At first, Elise thinks this whole „Devildom and demons“ stuff is all a dream and goes along with it without caring about the consequences of her actions.When she finds out it‘s all, in fact, reality, she already managed to piss off one of the brothers, proposed to another one and forged a pact with her guardian devil.In conclusion, she‘s fucked.—Basically your average „OC takes MC‘s place“ story but I couldn‘t care less about looking up the dialogue and following the plot strictly so it‘s only canon-compliant at first and takes different directions afterwards.
Relationships: Belphegor/Main Character (Shall We Date?: Obey Me!), Lucifer/Main Character (Shall We Date?: Obey Me!), Main Character/Mammon (Shall We Date?: Obey Me!), Main Character/Satan (Shall We Date?: Obey Me!)
Comments: 35
Kudos: 94





	1. The best dream she‘s had in years — or not

**Author's Note:**

> More tags might be added because I‘m an idiot who doesn‘t know how to tag

When she comes to herself, she finds herself in an unfamiliar, almost courtroom-like looking room. The only source of light is a big chandelier above the large wooden table she‘s seated at, along with six other men she‘s never seen before.

„Welcome to Devildom, Elise!“

Despite sitting at the opposite head-end, Elise can hear the man loud and clear. Judging by his uniform, the only one that‘s a bright red whereas everyone else wears a black one, this guy seems to be the one in charge of whatever committee she suddenly stumbled upon. 

Noticing that her attention is all on him, the man continues, excitement clearly written all over his face. „You‘ve been selected as one of our exchange students from the Human Realm and will be attending the Royal Academy of Diavolo, RAD for short, for a whole year before returning home. My name is Diavolo, and I am the crown prince of Devildom.“

Frowning, Elise watches his lips keep moving, but he has already lost her towards the very beginning of his speech, only a few pieces of information making it through to her consciousness. While he goes on about demons and the purpose behind the exchange program, she pieces together what‘s going on for real.

Clearly, watching yet another anime about demons right before going to sleep has caused her to make up her very own scenario about demons - and apparently, angels - within her dreams, which is actually a nice change compared to all the boring dreams about work. It‘s been years since she last dreamed about a fantasy world.

„—Elise? Are you alright?“

The moment her name is mentioned, she snaps out of her thoughts and focuses back on Diavolo. For being a devil, his expression looks rather worried than downright evil and malicious. 

She smiles. Exactly how she loves her demon stories. 

„I‘m sorry, it just seems that I‘ve forgotten that I‘ve signed up for an exchange program.“

In fact, she‘s been out of school - and university - for years, but for the sake of the story, she shall play along and make the best out of her dream. God knows when she‘ll have the next chance to have an exciting dream after this one. 

This, and this reason alone is why she allows herself to be quite daring and put herself on the same pedestal as the demon lord in front of her. „In any case, I‘d be happy to attend your academy and learn more about your world. However, I‘ve got one— no, two conditions.“

„Who do you think you are to talk like this to Lord Diavolo?“

The black-haired man next to Diavolo looks like he‘s ready to rip out her heart for the sheer disrespect she‘s showing, but Diavolo raises his hand and laughs, one simple hand gesture enough to deescalate the situation in an instant. „Now, now, Lucifer! Let‘s hear her out — after all, communication is the key to unite all three realms.“

„Thank you, Lord Diavolo, sir,“ she nods, not quite sure how to address him. Then again, she doubts that something as trivial as a name will matter in a dreamworld full of demons and angels. 

Her gaze wanders to Lucifer, offering him a small, apologetic smile. „And I‘m sorry if I came off as offending, Mr. Lucifer, but I am actually the only one taking care of my two cats up in the Human Realm with no relatives or friends living closeby. Either, you allow me to take them with me along with all necessities for them and promise me to keep them safe, or I have to refuse being part of this exchange program.“

Lucifer scowls, whereas Diavolo only laughs harder, voice booming through the room. For someone who‘s the demon crown prince who just had some lowly human talk back to him, he sure seems to be in high spirits. Elise decides that she likes him, especially so because he reminds her of several shounen protagonists whose positive energy rivals his own.

„Pets, I see! What a very human thing, I almost forgot how popular they are with humans. Well then, if that‘s the only sacrifice we have to make, I‘m sure Lucifer is happy to oblige.“

As if asking for confirmation, Diavolo looks at Lucifer who pinches his nose, sighing. 

It‘s then when another guy - Asmodeus, if Elise remembers correctly - chimes in, his cooing too girly to leave any room for doubt that he‘s queer. 

„Ohh, cats? I absolutely _have_ to buy some cute outfits to make selfies with them, thanks to my beauty they are gonna blow up on Devilgram!“

Whether or not this guy is the one named Asmodeus, he‘s definitely the one who has been briefly introduced as the Avatar of Lust before.

The one right next to him whose name is far easier to remember, Satan, also breaks a smile, although a much more devious one. „I, too, am sure that Lucifer is _happy_ to oblige for the sake of Lord Diavolo‘s dream.“

Lucifer shoots him a pointed look, and Satan‘s smile only seems to become wider. For a second, it appears like Lucifer wants to say something, before he chooses to ignore Satan‘s comment and instead agrees to Elise‘s terms since he‘s the owner of the house she‘s going to be staying in. 

The rest of the information dump, accompanied by some „I‘m hungry“s from the Avatar of Gluttony, goes by quickly. At the end of it, Lucifer hands Elise a smartphone —or, as they call it, „D.D.D.“ — and tells her to call her new guardian. She doesn‘t know if she should feel insulted that neither of the four brothers currently present want to take care of her, but on second thought she might be better off with an Avatar of sin that isn‘t going to eat, molest or punch her. (Although, so far Satan has been eerily calm for someone called the Avatar of Wrath, and Elise is happy that her dream lore on demons isn‘t as one-dimensional as some other shows make them out to be)

While waiting for Mammon to pick up, Elise wonders where she heard the name before for her subconsciousness to make it appear in her dream. Diavolo, Satan and Lucifer are a given, Beelzebub is the name of an anime that‘s been on her watch list for years and as for Barbatos and Asmodeus, she has no fucking idea. 

Mammon, though, it rings a bell somewhere deep down...

„Yooooo.“

„Oh,“ Elise mouths, ignoring the other person on the receiving end of the line as realization slowly dawns on her. „Right, something about mountain of gold in Faust. You‘re Greed, then?“

„...What?“

Mammon sounds dumbfounded, and suddenly Elise feels awkward. She probably confused that poor guy. 

„Sorry, I meant to say hi. I‘m Elise, the new exchange student from the human rea—“

She gets cut off, and within seconds, Mammon manages to destroy every sense of pity she‘s felt for him as he goes on about a “lowly human“ having the nerve to call „THE Great Mammon“. 

If it had just been the boasting, she could have ignored it, but he chose to be arrogant _and_ cut her off, so she decides to cut him off just as rudely as he did with her.

„Okay, listen, pipsqueak. Lucifer told me to call you ‘cuz you‘re my guardian, I‘m just following orders.“

„Guardian?! Me?! No way I‘m gonna be the babysitter of some stupid human, forget it!“

„If you got any complaints, Karen, speak to the fucking manager who made the rules and don‘t give me crap. Here,“ pissed off, Elise holds the D.D.D. towards Lucifer. Without exchanging any words, nor questioning what the hell she just said, Lucifer takes the phone. His voice is ice cold. „Mammon, I expect you to take care of the human. This is an order. Come and pick her up, now.“

Elise can‘t make out what Mammon replies, but Lucifer‘s darkening face is enough to go by to conclude that Mammon is still against the idea. 

If his voice was ice cold before, he now manages to freeze over hell with it. 

**“Mammooooooon.“**

Despite the low volume, Mammon‘s scream can be heard through it for everyone to hear. Most likely jumped by Lucifer‘s dangerous tone, Mammon hangs up immediately, and even Elise has to admit that she doesn‘t want to mess with him whether his actions in her dream are unable to affect her in real life or not.

„Don‘t worry, Mammon _will_ make sure that you‘ll survive this year,“ Lucifer assures, handing back the D.D.D.. Elise nods, not doubting his words a single bit after what she‘s just witnessed. 

While waiting for Mammon to appear, Elise tries to get used to the new device in her hands. Luckily enough, Diavolo is more than happy to show her the basic functions, explaining that pretty much everything she needs has already been installed in advance. 

The helpful instructions soon turn into a chain of sticker spam back and forth, burying Diavolo‘s welcome message as Elise wants to try out every cute sticker she sees and Diavolo responds with another one. 

They are only interrupted once the door flies open with a crash, startling Elise and almost making her drop her phone. The perpetrator is none other than the white-haired guy she just called, and he doesn‘t look happy at all.

„Why do _I_ have to take care of that human?!“

„Mammon.“

„Ya can‘t be serious, I don‘t have time for babysitting the exchange student. I‘m talking about big business opportunities here!“

„ _Mammon_ ,“ Lucifer tries again, this time more serious. His strict tone alone isn‘t enough to stop Mammon from venting out his frustration, though. 

„I never agreed to any of this, why doesn‘t Asmo do it?!“

Asmo merely shrugs, claiming he‘s too lazy for that task, and Satan supports him with a smug smile on his lips. „Out of everyone in this room, you‘re the one with the most free time. Just give up.“

„Satan‘s right,“ Lucifer adds, for some reason earning a glare from the Avatar of Wrath as he does so, „You‘re going to watch over Elise and make sure no harm comes to her. **No objections**.“

„Tch,“ Mammon huffs, scowling. The way he crosses his arms in front of his chest as if to protect himself, though, tells Elise that he isn‘t going to argue over this matter any further. 

A small smile creeps on her lips. He accepted defeat.

—

„Just so ya know, I‘m not scared of Lucifer! I could’ve said no to him, I just didn‘t cuz I wanted to do him a favor.“

„Yeah, sure,“ Elise mumbles, not really listening to his rambles as they make their way to the House of Lamentation. Her eyes are fixed on the D.D.D. in her hands, its screen presenting all of the contacts she‘s edited so far. 

Still, there‘s one thing which has been bothering her ever since she went through her contacts for the first time. 

„Say, Mammon. You‘re the Avatar of Greed, right?“ she doesn‘t even wait for an answer before continuing, already quite sure she‘s right with her guess after spending a few minutes with the money-loving demon. „Satan‘s Wrath, Asmodeus is Lust, Beelzebub‘s Gluttony and Lucifer‘s Pride.“

„Yeah, _duh._ What‘s ya point?“ 

„Well,“ she points at her screen, asking him to look at it. When he does, she finally asks the question which has been lingering on her tongue. „There‘s only this Leviathan guy left, but aren‘t there supposed to be seven deadly sins? Envy and Sloth. I mean, there are several different takes, but isn‘t—“

Before she is able to finish her sentence, Mammon cuts her off, much more abrasive than before. It doesn‘t take an expert to notice that he goes to the defense. 

„There are seven of us, yeah, and Levi‘s the Avatar of Envy. Don‘t mention Sloth around anyone if you don‘t want to get yourself killed, especially Lucifer.“

„Ah, okay,“ is all Elise retorts. She‘s not quite happy with his response - or lack thereof - but chooses not to dig deeper. Who knows, maybe that Sloth person died and she‘s rubbing salt into open wounds by asking about them insensitively. 

The thought of unknowingly bringing up a dead sibling makes her stomach churn. Fuck, maybe she really did something horrible just now. 

She glances at Mammon nervously, quickly turning away when his gaze meets hers. 

„Sorry for bringing it up.“

He looks at her after she quietly mumbled an apology, his face unreadable, then—

Within the blink of an eye, he grins and his way of speaking returns to his boasting, energetic self. 

„If you‘re sorry, you should give me all your money, human!“

Every bit of pity she just felt for him vanishes, shy expression replaced with a glare instead. „Oh, _fuck you_.“

She isn‘t going to feel bad for some random guy who appeared in her dream, nor will she let herself get mugged in said dream. 

—

It all happened way too fast for her to understand. First, she was looking at job offers, then some new guy appeared out of nowhere and made Mammon ditch - no, _sacrifice_ \- her and now she‘s in what they seem to call „Celestial Realm“.

At least, that‘s what the room full of anime, manga, merchandise and video games is to her. 

„Oh my God, is that Evil Goddess Saber _and_ its original?! And that Jalter— wasn‘t that a figure immediately sold out at WonFes? How the fuck did you get your hands on her, you‘re a fucking man of culture!“

Her gaze shifts to another shelf, this time one with several novels and DVDs, all dedicated to one single series—

„TSL, too! And each novel is the first edition!“

Leviathan, completely overwhelmed by her sheer euphoria upon seeing his room, can only manage to stutter. „You… you know TSL?“

„Dude, yeah!“ Elise laughs at the stupid question. Not that she can blame that made-up character who probably doesn‘t even know that he‘s in her dream, but if she didn‘t know TSL, she wouldn‘t dream about it. 

Without hesitation, she pulls out a light novel from another shelf and reads the ridiculously long title. Well, apparently there are also things she never read, but at least heard the name of — even though it surprises her that her subconsciousness can remember not just one, but several long light novel titles. 

Maybe she underestimated herself.

„Hey, don‘t touch that, normie!“ Leviathan quickly reaches for the novel in her hand, snatching it away from her. His cheeks are red, probably from anger because he‘s huffing. „If you damage the cover, I‘ll sacrifice you to Ruri-Chan and beg for forgiveness after allowing such a disaster…!“

Elise blinks. Did he just call her a normie?

She can understand that he gets overprotective of his stuff, on second thought she‘s also be pissed if a stranger touched her holy manga collection, but — normie?

That‘s actually an insult.

Now, it‘s her time to huff. 

„Okay, _listen up_ , boy. I may look like a functioning adult on the outside, but I‘m as much as disaster weeb as you are. Maybe even worse, because I actually spend money on gacha like the loser I am.“

She reaches out her hand, offering it for a handshake as she looks at Leviathan expectantly. „So, we cool?“

Leviathan, however, just stares at the outstretched hand like she was an alien who just grew a third arm out of her stomach. He looks as if a thousand thoughts are running through his mind at once, his face flushed and in panic. 

„A-Anyway! That‘s not why I dragged you here!“ he shouts, inching away from her. For a second, she feels like she‘s back in elementary school and has ‚girl germs‘ he‘s afraid of catching. „You need to make a pact with Mammon, like, ASAP!“

Elise doesn‘t quite follow. „Wait, why? He‘s supposed to be my guardian anyway, so I don‘t need a pact to keep me safe.“

„And you seriously believe that he‘ll protect you? _After_ he totally ditched you just now?“

„Well,“ he does have a point, and Elise can‘t deny that. 

As if noticing that she‘s thinking this over, Leviathan continues. „If you don‘t make a pact with him, he‘ll sacrifice you again, just like the Lord of Fools did with Henry in volume three when they met the Lord of Shadows! So we have to do the same thing like the Lord of Shadows and Henry and fool him into an alliance, then you can just tell him to give me my money back…!“

So it‘s been about the money all along, Elise realizes. Which suddenly explains why Leviathan is so keen on helping her out - he‘s a hardcore otaku, a collector, and he‘s currently too broke to afford his hobby. 

Of course, Elise knows the feeling of absolutely wanting the newest game, merch, manga or anything else, really — and while the adult way to deal with it is wait and be responsible with your own money, she‘s definitely going to enable a fellow otaku if all she has to do is make a fictional demon pact that isn‘t going to affect her anyway. 

Maybe it will spice up her dream a little bit, too, because as of right now it‘s rather chill for being about demons. She‘s be fine with that if she could fly or shoot some fire out of her hands, but sadly neither thing worked out for her when she tried it on her way to the House of Lamentation. All she _did_ achieve was getting some quizzical looks from Mammon.

Since Leviathan is unlikely to shake her hand or bump fists with her, Elise resorts to giving him a small peace sign as she smirks at him, the thought of making a demon pact thrilling her. 

„You got yourself a deal, bro.“

Little did she know, she‘s going to regret these words.

—

It‘s only after that secret meeting that Elise is able to finally check out her new room. When she enters, though, she thinks she‘s mistaken.

„Sorry, wrong door,“ she immediately tries to leave, but Satan motions for her to come inside. Judging by his calm voice, he isn‘t mad at her sudden intrusion.

„You aren‘t mistaken, this is your room. I‘m merely here to cast a spell,“ he motions at the large transport box Elise only just now that she took a few steps forward notices. Her cats are inside, and she gets a little bit worried.

„What kinda spell?“ she asks, skipping the question whether magic is real since there are more important matters at hand.

Satan looks at her with a small hint of amusement. „Don‘t worry, it‘s a spell to protect them from harm — just like you requested at today‘s meeting. Quite boldly, if I dare say so.“

„Their wellbeing comes first,“ she crouches down next to him and takes a closer look at her babies. In an instant, she feels warm around her chest and calms down. 

A small smile makes its way to her lips. „They look relaxed.“

„Cats are prone to anxiety when met with sudden change, so I added a relaxation spell to make it easier for them to adjust,“ Satan explains. 

Elise beams. „Thanks, I owe you!“

„In fact, we‘re already even,“ Satan‘s smile turns into a devious smirk, just like the one back in the student council room. „The look on Lucifer‘s face when you laid out your conditions is more than enough for me to consider a payment.“

She doesn‘t insist on paying him back for his efforts. Not owing anything to a demon is something she‘s willing to accept easily, after all.

Instead, she opens the transport box. Satan doesn‘t stop her, so she assumes he‘s done with his magic already so she can let her babies roam freely. 

„That‘s Kuro, and this is Shiro,“ she gestures at the black and white cat respectively, suddenly feeling energized and talkative now that she is able to talk about what she really loves the most. Any kind of filter in front of her mouth is removed at that point. 

„Shiro is cuddly but also really scared of strangers, he‘s an actual fucking angel and lets Kuro do anything even if he hates it. Kuro is the devil between those two and tries to steal all of Shiro‘s food and toys whenever you offer Shiro some, so I always have to make sure Shiro gets enough attention and some special alone time with me. They get along perfectly, though, even if Kuro is a little bitch sometimes!“

Her gaze wanders to Satan, waiting for a reaction to her excited rambling. He doesn‘t look at her, though, and instead faces the two cats in front of him, slowly blinking at them. 

Elise feels her heart warm and can‘t help but stare at him.

„Something the matter?“ Satan asks after a few seconds of too much staring to consider normal. Their eyes lock, and Elise flushes, her rambling continuing before she can think about what she‘s saying. „Dude, I totally just fell for you.“

At a loss of words, Satan blinks. He certainly didn‘t expect that to come out of her mouth, and before he can question her sudden love confession, she takes his hands in hers. „You just gave my cats eye kisses, I fucking love you already. If I had a ring, I‘d propose to you on the spot, but apparently this whole dream of mine says fuck you after presenting me the perfect, handsome, cat-loving demon of my dreams, just so I‘ll wake up tomorrow knowing exactly what I‘m missing out on in life.“

A harsh knock on the door saves Satan from the insanity he‘s suddenly found himself in, and without waiting for a reply, Mammon barges into the room, all loud and complaining again. „Hey, human, Lucifer totally chewed me out for— whatcha doing with my human there, Satan?!“

Within seconds, he pulls her away from him, seemingly fuming. „If ya wanna eat her, I won‘t let you, cuz I don‘t wanna deal with Lucifer getting all pissy at me!“

Unlike Mammon, Satan remains calm as he retracts his hands. „You‘re misunderstanding the situation.“

„Yeah, I was actually the one grabbing him,“ Elise backs him up. This sudden confession causes Mammon to turn to her, dumbfounded. „What did ya just say?“

„I took his hands because he made a slow blink at my cats, and— wait, why are you even here?“

„It‘s dinnertime so I wanted to fetch ya since, y‘know, you‘re probably too weak and scared to go alone,“ Mammon retorts, his voice trailing off towards the end, getting defensive. He crosses his arms. „Not like I was told to fetch ya, I‘m just taking pity in you so you should be thankful for the Great Mammon‘s kindness!“

_He was definitely told by Lucifer to pick her up_ , Elise thinks, mentally questioning how he can lie so awfully like that and think anyone would believe him. Her voice ends up being rather nonchalant due to that. „Wow, that‘s so kind of you, Sir Great Mammon.“

„Are ya making fun of me?!“

„She definitely is.“

With Mammon bitching and Satan making fun about his pathetic attempts at denying that Lucifer had a hand in all of this, the way towards the dining hall ended up quite amusing. She can‘t help but smile at Satan‘s intelligent way at expressing himself and the cynical jokes he throws at Mammon.

—

That night, Elise is unable to fall asleep. It‘s already late and strange sounds come from the kitchen. 

At first, she‘s able to ignore them, but after what feels like half an hour, she gets annoyed and decides to investigate. Not much to her surprise, it‘s the Avatar of Gluttony causing such a mess.

„Could you keep it down a notch, please? I wanna sleep,“ she‘s asking him as politely as possible in her annoyed, sleep-deprived state. Seeing how Beelzebub doesn‘t look offended, he either doesn‘t care or Elise managed to make it sound nice enough after all.

„If you are hungry, I already ate all the food,“ is all he says to her. Surely, Lucifer will be happy to hear that the entire stock of food got robbed overnight, but that‘s none of her concern. If anything, Beelzebub should be careful not to piss him off tomorrow.

„Then why are you still in the kitchen?“ she sighs, running her hands through her loose hair. Beelzebub glances at the fridge, his face showing nothing but sadness as he holds his growling stomach. „I was hoping I could find something…“

„Well, if you spent so long rummaging through everything, I‘m sure there‘s nothing left,“ at her words, he starts looking even more depressed, which actually makes her take pity in him. Being hungry sucks, and he didn‘t exactly choose to have this condition which always makes him feel like he‘s starving.

Another sigh escapes her lips. „Alright, let‘s look at everything together and if we don‘t find anything, we‘ll go back to sleep. Deal?“

Finally, Beelzebub smiles and Elise realizes that the big, intimidating-looking demon who mentioned wanting to eat her mere hours ago is actually a big softie. Cute.

„Thanks, Elise. Appreciate it.“

„Just Lise is fine,“ she replies. Then, she looks at the clearly empty fridge.

No doubt about it, that part got completely raided by Beelzebub. 

She closes the door and opens the freezer instead, which also looks empty at first glance. Just as she‘s about to close it as well, she notices something at the very back of it. „What‘s that?“

„What do you mean?“ Beelzebub asks. 

„That thing over there.“

„I don‘t see anything.“

„That‘s cause you‘re too big, you need to be on my eye level to see it. Care to give me a knife?“

„Sure.“

With that, Beelzebub hands her a knife and she starts slamming it into the thick ice. Soon enough, a large chunk of it breaks off.

Elise can‘t believe her luck as she takes a closer look at the thing in her hand. Seems like Lucifer literally froze Mammon‘s credit card and hid it on such a low level of the freezer that all these tall guys never noticed it. What a clever bitch.

„Can I eat that?“ Beelzebub interrupts her thoughts. Elise turns to him, smiling apologetically. „Sorry, but that‘s not edible.“

„I wanna eat it.“

Well, that‘s just perfect. But, considering how Beelzebub ate part of his plate at dinner, Elise should have expected that he doesn‘t shy away from eating plastic, too.

In any case, she needs to get rid of Beelzebub and notify Leviathan, fast.

„Look at it again, that‘s Mammon‘s credit card,“ she tries again, her grip on the ice chunk tightening, despite being aware how easily Beelzebub could just snap her wrists and take the credit card if he really wanted to. The thought of it, added to the cool ice biting into her fingers, makes a shiver run down her spine. „Mammon probably indebted himself so much with that that eating it would cause you to feel even hungrier. You don‘t want his huge hole in his wallet to create another hole in your stomach, right?“

„Hungrier…?“ Beelzebub strokes his stomach, his face distorting into a painful look as he imagines feeling even hungrier than he already does. „Don‘t wanna feel hungrier…“

_Gotcha,_ a triumphant smile almost makes its way onto Elise‘s lips, but she suppresses it. Just a little bit more and she‘ll be able to call Leviathan. 

„There‘s no food left in the kitchen, so maybe look inside your room? You might have forgotten some snacks in your cupboard, or something slid under your bed.“

The sudden hug she‘s pulled into happens way too fast for her to process. And, in a matter of seconds, Beelzebub is gone looking for some forgotten snacks in his room, only leaving her with a quick ‚Thanks, Lise‘. 

As soon as he‘s out of sight, Elise grabs her phone and messages Leviathan.

_Guess what, gaymer._

**Leviathan (Envy):** What do you want, normie? I‘m busy streaming.

She quickly snaps a picture and sends it to him, adding a snickering sticker.

_Found the goods, lol._

Not a few seconds afterwards, his reply arrives.

**Leviathan (Envy):** Put it in the microwave, I‘ll be there ASAP. Mammon‘s gonna lose it, ROFLMAO!

_Won‘t the microwave destroy the chip? I mean, if the ice didn‘t already do the damage._

**Leviathan (Envy):** We can‘t summon a dragon who spits fire like they did in TSL with Geldie.

_Asmodeus probably has a hair dryer?_

**Leviathan (Envy):** Takes too long, just put it in the microwave. Doesn‘t matter if the credit card works, you just gotta make Mammon believe it does.

_You‘re horrible, lol. K, will do._

She leaves notifying Mammon to Leviathan, trusting him to handle the situation better than she‘d do. Not one minute after Leviathan arrives, Mammon bursts into the room, looking like he just ran a marathon. „YOU FOUND GOLDIE?!“

„Just according to keikaku,“ Elise grins, holding her hands towards Leviathan and expecting a high five. 

She doesn‘t get one. Rude.

Ignoring her, Leviathan focuses solely on Mammon, his evil chuckle filling the room as he gets his older brother right where he wants him. „Make a pact with this human or Goldie dies.“

As if to emphasize his threat, Leviathan turns the dial on the microwave, ready to melt the credit card. Mammon panics. „No way in hell imma make a pact with some stupid human—“

Leviathan‘s finger is about to press the button, and Mammon yells. „GAH! Okay, fine, fine, I‘ll make a pact, just gimme Goldie back in one piece you monster!“

Suddenly, a weird, red mark appears on the ground, with Elise and Mammon standing inside it. It disappears as soon as it appeared, and as it does, something burns inside Elise‘s back of the hand, making her hiss in pain and hold the spot where it hurts. She can‘t do anything but watch as a pentagram appears on her skin, the symbol which has just appeared on the ground now inside a circle around the pentagram. In the background, she can faintly hear Mammon gush over being reunited with his lover, but his voice is far too distant for her mind to focus on.

It hurts, and it isn‘t supposed to hurt. Nothing is supposed to hurt her, not inside a dream, and Elise stares at her hand in horror, her breath and heartbeat speeding up.

Fuck. Fuck, this can‘t be. It can‘t be real. It just can‘t. 

Demons aren‘t real. She‘s dreaming, and she probably just hurt her hand in her sleep and now it hurts, there‘s no way this can be real, but then again she should have woken up if she hurt herself, so—

„Hey, human, you okay there?“

Mammon‘s hand is suddenly on her shoulder and she jerks up, snapping out of her trance.

Then, she runs.

„Hey, human!“

And doesn‘t turn back.


	2. Chapter 2

„Hmm? Aren‘t you hungry, Lise?“

„When did _you_ get on nickname basis with my human, Beel?!“

„Aww, Lise is such a cute name! I‘ll call you Lise too!“

„Shaddap, Asmo, you don‘t get to call her by a nickname either!“

Breakfast is already, quite literally, hell for Elise. Mammon had to drag her out of her room himself after she failed miserably at faking illness, and now she barely manages to swallow even the tiniest bit of her food. 

She‘s hungry, starving even, but the sick feeling to her stomach doesn‘t allow her to feel any appetite. Instead, she‘s afraid that anything she eats might come back up at any moment. 

„Did you not sleep well this night, Lise? Want me to join you tonight~? Ah, but I sleep au naturel as a rule.“

„What did I just tell ya?!“

Elise doesn‘t react to any of the comments about or towards her. All she can manage are small nods and headshakes, too scared of the six demon lords she‘s living with to say anything out loud.

In her mind, she constantly has to think about how she‘s _going to die_ , her elaborate fantasy creating thousand little scenes as to when and how she‘ll end up dying. Diavolo notices she‘s useless, Lucifer hating her guts and ripping out her throat, Satan being mad and snapping, — especially after the ridiculous love confession and borderline proposal last night, which she suddenly very, _very_ much regrets now that she realizes she wasn‘t just dreaming —, Leviathan drowning her in his bathtub for touching his stuff, Mammon being sick of having a pact with her and getting rid of her somehow, Beelzebub simply being hungry or Asmodeus pulling an incubus and sucking out all of her life energy while he fucks her—

She can‘t look anyone in the eye. Not even making dark jokes about her current situation will help her now, unlike back in the Human Realm where joking was her go-to way to make herself feel better about the shit she had to deal with.

All that‘s left is accepting defeat and embracing death.

Maybe she‘ll get to spend a few more happy moments until her time of death comes if she follows Lucifer‘s and Diavolo‘s orders and avoids getting herself into trouble. 

„Are you gonna eat that?“

Elise looks at Beelzebub, then at her plate she‘s barely eaten anything off, before sliding it towards him as a silent invitation to eat her meal. Her breakfast is gone within seconds, and Beelzebub continues complaining about being hungry while eyeing Leviathan‘s plate next to him. 

Sucking up to the demon lords around her should help her survive a little bit longer, too.

—

Lucifer is the first one to head to school, which doesn‘t seem to be unusual to his brothers. Apparently, he always meets up with Diavolo early in the morning, whereas everyone else just has to arrive on time for their classes. 

Satan and Asmodeus walk in front, talking about something Elise cannot make out as she falls more and more behind to create some distance. Beelzebub is stuffing a sandwich down his throat, and Leviathan plays some mobile game on his D.D.D., both not taking notice of her avoiding them as much as possible.

Mammon, however, does.

„Seriously, what‘s wrong with ya? You were funnier yesterday,“ without a warning, he grabs her hand, the right one with the pact mark on it, reminding Elise yet again how much she royally fucked up last night. 

She wants to crawl into a corner and never come out of hiding.

„If ya continue being so slow, you‘ll get lost. Don‘t worry, though: The Great Mammon is here to protect ya! Nobody will dare touching my human.“

He makes it sound like he‘s her master, when in fact she‘s his, but Elise lets it slide. She already threw a sarcastic remark at him yesterday, it‘s best not to get on his bad side.

„Thanks,“ is all she says. Mammon looks at her, probably not having expected her to talk after staying silent for so long.

„Are ya really sick? I thought you were lying earlier, but if you really are, we‘ll just tell Lucifer and stay at home,“ just when these words leave his mouth, he suddenly gets way too excited over them. „I‘ll get to skip classes too, so let‘s just go back!“

„I‘m fine, it‘s just the nerves and I’d rather not make Mister Lucifer angry,“ Elise tries to reason with him, but Mammon is already too far gone. They are already on campus, mere minutes away from their first classes, but Mammon throws her over his shoulder, ready to ditch.

„It‘s aight, you just have to send Lucifer a message and he won‘t know ya lyin‘ to him,“ he laughs, already on his way back to the House of Lamentation.

Elise, however, freezes as she looks up from Mammon‘s back.

**“Mammooooooon.“**

„GAH!“

Mammon turns around, screaming. With him now facing Lucifer, Elise can‘t see his expression, but judging by his icy tone, he‘s ready to rip Mammon a new one.

„Trying to convince the exchange student to lie to my face on her first day of classes and skip school together, are we?“

What follows is unknown to her because Lucifer immediately sends her off to her first class, but Mammon waltzing into the classroom an hour later, looking completely dead, leaves enough room for interpretation she‘d rather not explore. 

—

Elise somehow survives her first day of school by running away from everyone who looks like they could take her out. The little D‘s don‘t scare her, they are _indeed_ little and probably can get knocked out if she steps on them, but Elise rather avoids them as well before life gets the chance to fuck her over and decides to make the little demons transform into big ones which are able to annihilate her.

Despite having Mammon as a guardian, they don‘t share every class together. She hasn‘t seen him for two hours, and now that school‘s over, she quickly sends him a polite message asking him to pick her up. 

Once she receives a reply, she puts away her D.D.D., suddenly relieved that she won‘t have to wait for a long time. Out of every demon, she should trust Mammon the most —he has to listen to her orders, after all — but she‘s also scared of pissing him off.

Sure, with her being his master, he can‘t disobey her, but they never really laid out their terms and conditions other than „make a pact with me and become my servant and you can have your credit card back“, so she doesn‘t even know if she actually sold her soul to him or not. 

And even if he has to listen to her orders, that won‘t stop him from pushing her down the stairs if she gets too annoying, because killing her is not exactly _going against her orders_. Maybe she should order him to not kill her, ever? But will that work out, or will she have to give him this order over and over again? Is there even a time limit to orders?

„If you want to keep it subtle that you‘re running away from everyone, you‘re not exactly good at it.“

Startled, Elise turns around, cursing as her heart races. „Fucking—!“

She meets with a guy whose hair resembles Mammon‘s in color, but the vibes he gives off are completely different. While Mammon has something endearing to him, that stranger in front of her is somewhat unsettling with the way too friendly smile of his. 

It almost looks fake, but she can‘t tell if he really is sketchy or if she‘s just overreacting.

„Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Solomon, and I‘m the second exchange student from the Human Realm,“ the eerie smile doesn‘t become any less sketchy as he offers his hand for a handshake, one that Elise accepts hesitantly. 

Back at home, she probably — no, most likely would have come up with an excuse to leave right the fuck now, but there‘s something comforting in meeting another human in Devildom. He might give off weird vibes, but he‘s _human_ , so if he makes a wrong move she can just kick him in the balls and run off. 

Her guard drops. Not completely, but noticeably so, something Solomon‘s eyes catch as well.

„It must be stressful for you to be thrown into this exchange program, isn‘t it?“

His voice is soothing, and Elise finds herself reaching out for the comfort he‘s offering. A small part of her reason curses her for being so naive, but — 

She‘s tired.

Shoulders slumping, she allows a deep sigh to escape her lips and moves a loose strand of hair out of her face. „You bet it is. I feel like one single wrong move is gonna get me killed.“

„Well, you‘re not exactly wrong there,“ Solomon retorts, smiling amusedly. Elise rolls her eyes. „Gee, thank you.“

The sarcastic tone makes Solomon laugh heartily. Once his laughter dies down, he takes her right hand, turning it over so the pact symbol is revealed. 

He offers her an encouraging smile. „I see you are already starting to fit in, though.“

„I didn‘t really have a choice.“

„Still, the Avatar of Greed is a good choice. Not as strong as the Avatar of Pride, but able to hold his ground against most demons.“

Grimacing, Elise pulls away her hand. „We‘re not glued together, though. If you were a demon with malicious intentions right now, I‘d still be dead, whether I got a pact with a stronger demon or not.“

„Then, you should learn how to use his powers.“

Before Elise can ask what he means by that, a high-pitched voice calls out for Solomon. Elise immediately recognizes it as Asmodeus, and to make matters worse, Satan is right next to him. 

_Dude, I totally just fell for you._

Her cheeks heat up as the memories from last night keep resurfacing. She wasn‘t being serious, she just got excited because she met another cat-lover and thought there‘d be no consequences to goofing around, but _he_ doesn‘t know that. 

Almost stumbling over her own feet, Elise runs toward the empty classroom she had her last lesson in, barely able to stutter out an excuse. „I-I think I dropped my pen earlier, see ya!“

Solomon definitely doesn‘t buy it, but he doesn‘t go after her, and that‘s good enough for Elise.

—

After Mammon accompanies her back to the House of Lamentation, Elise quickly disappears into her room. Her cats demand attention — and food, of course, because they just have to act like little drama queens who are starving all the goddamn time — which she is more than willing to give.

Once her babies decide they‘ve gotten enough cuddles, Elise makes her way over to her desk and spreads out all of the books she received at RAD today. They are all heavy as shit, and for a brief moment she wonders how she‘ll survive the school year without one or two disc prolapses, but she‘s afraid that this should be the least of all her worries right now.

First and foremost, she has to suck up to Diavolo and Lucifer and make herself useful to them. Diavolo might be easier to keep entertained — or maybe she completely misjudges him, she honestly can‘t tell with all these strangers she barely knows — but Lucifer seems to be tough nut to crack.

Step number one to pleasing the Avatar of Pride: Study your ass off for school and ace all of your classes.

Which is easier said than done, because even the so-called _basics subjects_ don‘t really start with the basics for someone who only just found out that magic and demons are real, and there‘s probably a lot of misinformation she learned in the Human Realm which might cause her to fuck up—

But as a shut-in with an interest in magic and demons, even if she never asked for being thrown into their world, and as someone who also happens to be too scared to leave her room, she‘s sure she’ll manage somehow. Hard work always pays off.

—

As it turns out, Elise shares most of her classes with Solomon, who she starts to notice more now that she knows him. Whenever they have a class with no assigned seats, Elise quickly takes the spot next to him.

Solomon doesn‘t question it, he just smiles at her knowingly and even starts reserving a seat for her after the pattern keeps continuing. 

He might look a little bit sketchy, but she wants to trust him. There may be a lot of bad people in the world, but in a realm full of demons, she‘s willing to take the risk.

„You seem to like Theory of Magic.“

Elise looks up from her notes and stops bobbing her pen against her chin, the annoying clicking sounds dying down in an instant. Solomon‘s smile widens, and if something like ‚passive-teasing‘ existed, Elise would describe his tone as such. „Unlike History of Magic and History of the Three Realms.“

„Oh, shush you,“ Elise suppress the urge to slap his arm gently. They aren‘t _that_ close yet.

Solomon laughs at her flustered face. She knows he‘s referring to her almost falling asleep during class, and honestly she thinks if it wasn‘t for the fear of Lucifer barging in with his sixth sense of smelling trouble, she actually would have fallen asleep. 

Hiding her mouth and cheeks with her hands, Elise continues. „Don‘t laugh, but I actually waited for my invitation for Hogwarts when I was a child. I just can‘t get excited over history classes when _magic_ is real and an actual subject here.“

„Oh, did you not know that it‘s a real place?“

He doesn‘t earn himself a light slap or shove, but a poke with Elise‘s pen. „Stop teasing me, you‘re fucking lying.“

„I am not, I actually went there. Why else do you think Theory of Magic comes so naturally to me?“

Her face drops. 

She can‘t believe it. 

„Wait, you‘re for fucking real? _Hogwarts exists?_ “

„No, it doesn‘t.“

Elise really wishes she could wipe that amused smile off his face.

—

Since she gets along with Solomon quite well, it‘s only a matter of time until Elise meets Simeon and Luke. 

She doesn‘t understand why everyone keeps calling Luke a chihuahua, because aside from the fact that he looks like an elementary school kid compared to everyone else, nothing strikes her as chihuahuaesque about him, but she merely shrugs it off. 

Just because everyone calls him a dog doesn‘t mean she has to do so as well. Using his name works just fine, and if she had to give him a nickname, it would be „Michael Simp“ anyway.

Because, that‘s all he ever talks about. Michael this, Michael that, and while it‘s endearing at first, Elise isn‘t really interested in all the „God and his Angels“ stuff. 

Not that she mentions it out loud, of course. Bringing up that she used to be an atheist before arriving at Devildom would be rude towards the servants of God, so she keeps her mouth shut and tries not to stare at Simeon too much during Luke‘s speeches.

Which is harder than she thought, because _holy shit_ , Simeon is a handsome bitch who just happens to look exactly like one of her 2D husbands.

He‘s an angel, though, so while his personality _and_ looks are quite attractive, Elise doesn‘t get her hopes up. Humans and angels can be friends, and after getting added to Simeon, Luke and Solomon‘s group chat, she‘s somewhat certain that she counts as a friend to them too, now, but there‘s never going to be more and she‘s fine with that.

Even if it was possible to be with an angel, she doubts she‘d want that. Back on Earth, hardcore Christians always made her run, and angels are probably even worse than that.

Thank God that Simeon and Luke don‘t talk about religion to her. Maybe they can feel that she isn‘t a believer and respect her choice, or the pact with Mammon makes her a sinner anyway so they don‘t bother with what cannot be undone.

As if talking about the devil, Mammon barges into the library. Elise was already wondering what took him so long because, for some reason, he just loves dragging her away from the other exchange students. Loudly so, as well.

Probably an order from Lucifer so Elise is forced to adjust to demons, not spend her time with a human just like her and two angels, because that is counter-productive towards Diavolo‘s dream of making humans get closer to demons.

 _Maybe if they stopped acting like I could be their next dinner, I‘d be willing to adjust,_ Elise thinks to herself as she closes the book Solomon recommended to her for her studies. She‘ll finish reading it in her room later.

„Have a nice weekend, guys.“

„You too, Lise,“ Simeon smiles at her and _goddammit he shouldn‘t be allowed to look so handsome while doing so_. „You‘re always welcome to visit us at Purgatory Hall over the weekend.“

_You‘re really not making it easy for girls not to fall for you._

Before Elise is able to reply, Mammon made it over to their table, his arm wrapped over her shoulder as he pulls her towards his chest. She long brushed this possessive behavior off as being the Avatar of Greed, who likes to show off or some shit like that, even if she isn‘t anything to show off.

„She isn‘t free this weekend, cuz we‘re gonna have a TSL marathon together.“

„We‘re going to have a what?“ Elise asks, perplexed. That‘s the first time she‘s heard about her apparent weekend plans.

„A TSA marathon!“ Mammon repeats, grinning as he pulls her closer. „Just you, me and the movies!“

She isn‘t surprised that he wants to watch the movies instead of reading the novels. At all.

Wriggling out of his deathgrip, Elise arches an eyebrow at him skeptically. „Thanks for letting me know?“ 

Mammon points at himself with his thumb, laughing. „No need to thank the Great Mammon. You‘re at my mercy, human.“

She shouldn‘t be surprised that he didn‘t get her sarcasm, either. 

Which is probably better, because only just now does she realize that being around the other exchange students lulled her into a false sense of security. She feels comfortable around them, which affected her way of talking towards Mammon, something she _shouldn‘t allow._

He might be an idiot and have his lovable moments that make her want to believe he‘s a great guy, but he‘s still a demon who reminds her of her low status in this world often enough.

„You should tell us what you think about it,“ Solomon speaks up. His eyes wander from Elise to Simeon, and then back to her. „Simeon over here is especially interested in TSL.“

„Oh?“ Elise perks up, now meeting with Simeon‘s gaze. „I didn‘t know you were a fan too. It‘s a great series, let‘s talk about it next time.“

For a split second, she could swear Simeon looks somewhat flustered. She must have imagined it, because when she blinks, he‘s back to being calm and composed. „Sure, I look forward to it.“

Whatever Elise wants to reply is cut off as Mammon puts his arm back around her shoulder, leading her away. His voice almost rivals Luke‘s in childishness. „C‘mon, the movies aren‘t gonna wait for us! Chop chop!“

Technically, the movies are waiting for them because they can watch them whenever they want, but Elise doesn‘t bother arguing with Mammon in his pouting state. 

—

Dinner goes by quite smoothly, and after five consecutive days of sitting with the Avatars of Sin at the same table without anyone eating her, Elise‘s nerves aren‘t killing her _that_ much anymore. 

That is, until Lucifer speaks up.

„Elise, I expect you in my study after dinner.“

She nearly chokes on her food as her name comes out of his mouth, and the open statement only worsens her panic after she‘s addressed by him directly.

What the fuck did she do? Lucifer never called her into his study before. Oh God, she fucked up somehow. But what was it that set him off?

Is it because she came late to class on her third day because she had to wait until Asmodeus was out of sight so she could head to class alone, which made her arrive a minute after the bell already rung? Or did he notice that her school uniform skirt only goes two, not at least five centimeters below her knees which is against the dress code? She didn‘t _choose_ the uniform, but she probably should have notified Lucifer or anyone, really, after realizing that she‘s wearing the wrong skirt size. 

Maybe he‘s also pissed that she‘s spending so much time with Solomon and the angels. During exchange programs, it‘s always encouraged for the exchange student to communicate with the locals to improve their language skills and knowledge of their culture, someone can spend a year in America without learning English if they only hang out with people also speaking their native language, but what _choice_ does she have when Asmodeus and Beelzebub want to eat her up, Satan is — well, she‘s _not_ going to talk to him after _this_ — and Leviathan doesn‘t even go to school that often since he‘s always holed up in his room. There‘s Mammon, yeah, but Elise doesn‘t know how to deal with him because his actions are just so confusing and outright contradictory sometimes, and Lucifer is fucking intimidating and—

„Elise, did you hear me?“

Snapping out of it, Elise tries to calm her racing heart and finally replies to Lucifer. „Y-Yeah, I‘ll be there!“

She‘s dead. She‘s so _fucking_ dead. And after busting her ass off to please Lucifer and Diavolo, too—

„Hey, no fair Lucifer! My human and I are having a movie night together!“

„Great, you can wait until we‘re finished. It won‘t take long.“

Okay, maybe she won‘t die after all if she‘ll be able to watch a movie with Mammon afterwards. A scolding, then? Oh God, the moment he gets angry she‘ll definitely start crying which will probably just upset him further.

Her mind keeps overthinking throughout dinner. She can barely get something down now that she knows she‘s in big trouble, her appetite gone completely, leaving her with an empty stomach _and_ a thousand worries. 

_The Great Mammon_ is kind enough to accompany her to Lucifer‘s study, not missing a chance to state how he „could have told Lucifer to postpone this“ but „allowed his big brother to have this meeting despite their plans just this once“. 

It‘s bullshit, but oddly comforting in its own way. Without Mammon keeping her distracted, even if it‘s just a little bit, Elise fears she would have broken down in tears immediately.

Looking for something to hold onto for support, Elise reaches for Mammon‘s hand and squeezes it. She can feel his eyes on her, but doesn‘t look up, hers glued to the ground.

„Thanks, Mammon,“ is all she manages to say meekly. 

They come to a halt in front of Lucifer‘s study and he squeezes back. „Don‘t ya have the nerve to let me wait for long, kay?“

„I‘ll try.“

—

Sitting in front of Lucifer‘s desk feels like waiting for her death sentence. She‘s fumbling with her fingers, hands on her lap and head lowered, looking like a beaten puppy.

Lucifer‘s silence is killing her slowly but surely. She can‘t take it anymore, he needs to say something, anything, or maybe he expects her to start and admit to all her mistakes and fuckups, promising she‘ll learn from them—

„Elise.“

„I‘m sorry!“

They speak at the same time, and Lucifer closes his mouth upon getting interrupted. He frowns, causing Elise to shrink further into her seat. 

„What for?“

Oh, so he really wants to hear it from herself. He knows that _she_ knows that she fucked up, but she did so many things that could piss him off, so what incident is he referring to? 

Since Lucifer seemingly always lectures his brothers right after they did something bad, he probably doesn‘t refer to her being late to class this week. It has to be something that happened today, or something he only learned about today, but then again his ears and eyes are everywhere, so she doubts it‘s about an incident that happened earlier this week.

Oh, fuck. 

Elise gulps, before the words just keep flowing out of her stammering mouth like a waterfall. „I‘m sorry for falling asleep during History class today! I was up all night because I wanted to finish all of my homework early, and then I stumbled upon the potion brewing chapter and couldn‘t tear my eyes away from it because it‘s so much like chemistry and I _love_ chemistry and before I knew it, it was three in the morning and I had to sleep but I kept telling myself _just one more chapter_ but then they talked about how unicorn blood reacts with troll snot and becomes a healing potion but doesn‘t to it with fairy tears which is similarly built which confused me so I wanted to look up why but the book didn‘t explain it so I had to look online and it kinda explained it but I couldn‘t find a reaction chain which bothered me because it felt like I just learned a fact and not the _reason_ behind it which I just wanted to know to use that knowledge in the future because surely other substances can make healing potions with unicorn blood too if they are similarly built like troll snot on a molecular level—“

She gasps for air, almost hyperventilating, but continues. „And when I finally found the reaction chain it was almost time to wake up so I downed three cups of coffee before breakfast which helped me stay awake but then the effect just vanished during class which made me even more tired than I was before and it didn‘t exactly help that we were talking about World War II which I already had for like five years in four different classes — even music! — back in the Human Realm so I kinda just dozed off which I am so, _so_ sorry for so please don‘t be mad at me, it won‘t happen again, I promise.“

„Elise.“

„Y-Yes?“

„Breathe.“

Her chest rises and falls rapidly as she gasps for air, her lungs desperately needing it after talking without a pause. Lucifer hands her a cup of water, and, without enough oxygen in her brain allowing her to question whether it really is water, she downs it in an instant.

„I didn‘t call you into my office to lecture you,“ Lucifer explains. Watching her face relax at his words, a mixture of confusion and relief washing over her, he clears his throat, his voice becoming strict. „Although, falling asleep during class _is_ something I‘ll have to talk to Lord Diavolo about.“

„I‘ll accept whatever punishment you deem suited for me.“

„I‘m glad you acknowledge the fault in your actions,“ Lucifer nods. Then, he takes an envelope out of his drawer and puts it on his desk, slowly sliding it over to Elise. „Your punishment, however, is a matter for another time. Lord Diavolo is happy to see that you already completed several of your tasks and take your studies seriously, so we decided to give you a little reward for your efforts.“

Elise stares at the envelope, unsure whether opening it right now is seen as rude in Devildom. 

Hell, she doesn‘t even know if opening a birthday gift envelope with money inside in front of the relative handing it to her is considered rude in _her_ culture.

Lucifer doesn‘t miss her internal struggle. „You may open it.“

Taking this as more of an order than a suggestion, Elise opens the wax seal and fishes the letter out of the envelope. The text is kept short and simple, but the actual gift underneath it—

Her eyes gleam. „A Royal Library Card, thank you so much! I‘ll make sure to make good use of it.“

„As I hope you will,“ Lucifer adds. He makes it sound like the conversation is over for him, now that Elise has received the card which will grant her permission to use the regular academy library _and_ the Royal Library further away from campus. „Leviathan and Satan also have passes, so if you need someone to accompany you, you can ask them.“

She definitely won‘t ask either of them after getting way too buddy buddy with Leviathan and calling him a gaymer, as well as Satan and _that_ thing, but she nods nonetheless because Lucifer doesn‘t need to know.

„I‘ll excuse myself, then.“

„One last thing.“

Elise, already on her way to the door, turns her attention to Lucifer one last time. Her silence is a signal for him to speak, and so he does, his lips carrying a smile with a hidden emotion she can‘t quite pinpoint. 

„Get enough sleep during school days. I expect you not to repeat the same mistake again.“

„Yes, sir.“

With that, she‘s allowed to leave.


	3. Movie night (and morning)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you saw the first version with the formatting errors— no, you didn‘t.
> 
> Thank you very much for the comments, they motivate me a lot!

Elise didn‘t expect Mammon to be such a crybaby during movies.

Not that she minds, she just— didn‘t expect it. At all.

That‘s why having a sobbing Mammon throw himself into her arms without any warning whatsoever overwhelms her. How is she supposed to react to this?

She can‘t just shove him away and act like nothing happened, and quite frankly, she doesn‘t want to, either. In fact, she _wants_ to cheer him up, and she doesn‘t know if her lack of sleep is causing her reason to perish completely or what else is coming over her, but before she knows it, her right hand is running through Mammon‘s hair, massaging his scalp gently, while the other one strokes his back.

He leans into her as she gives him the attention he seeks for, but doesn‘t stop crying his eyes out. A sick feeling spreads inside Elise‘s stomach, making it weigh down on her.

Is she really that bad at comforting people?

Maybe she‘s supposed to say something.

„Shh, it‘s alright. The story will get happier soon.“

And afterwards, it will become even more tragic, but Mammon doesn‘t need to know that just yet.

„Please tell me Geldie will be saved,“ Mammon sobs. Elise glances at Beelzebub, who only seems to focus on eating popcorn and merely listens to the movie as background noise. The Avatars of Sin have great hearing, so even if she whispers, he‘ll most likely hear her.

Then again, he probably doesn‘t mind spoilers since he isn‘t watching the movie anyway.

Taking the risk, Elise pats Mammon‘s back cautiously, careful not to butter him up too much because he might take it as an insult towards his whole _The Great Mammon_ ego later on.

„Geldie‘s gonna be saved and reunited with the Lord of Fools, who immediately professes his undying love for her.“

„Really?“

„Really.“

The spoiler puts Mammon into a great mood, and he continues watching the movie with gleeful excitement written all over his face, even going so far as to cheering for Henry throughout his struggles.

When the Lord of Fools accidentally causes a disease to spread all across the Lord of Flies‘ land, though, despite his best efforts to help his brother, Mammon quickly breaks out into tears again.

In the end, he gets so tired from crying that he falls asleep on Elise‘s shoulder. A simple glance at the clock tells her that it‘s already past midnight, and they should call it a day. She‘s tired as well.

„Beelzebub, can you put Mammon on my bed? I‘m afraid if I try to, I‘ll wake him up.“

Or worse, drop him. She might be strong for a woman and used to carrying heavy shit, but a tall mass of muscles is out of her league.

Luckily, Beelzebub agrees without any complaints. He makes it look like Mammon is a featherweight in his arms, and the thought of not troubling Beelzebub too much with her request relieves her.

„Thank you. I‘d like to go to sleep too, so you can have Mammon‘s and my popcorn bags if you want.“

As expected, the joy of getting something to eat outweighs the disappointment of not finishing the movie — if there is even any disappointment inside him, that is — and all of the remaining snacks end up inside Beelzebub‘s arms within seconds.

What she didn‘t expect, however, was the huge, cheerful smile which reaches his eyes. „Thanks, Lise.“

„No problem, you need them more than we do,“ she assures. His brothers might tease him for his everlasting hunger, but Elise takes pity in him. Just like Mammon didn‘t choose to become the Avatar of Greed, which tempts him to become irresponsible with money and borrow it from everyone around him without the intention of ever paying them back, Beelzebub didn‘t choose to feel hungry all the time.

It‘s just unfair how they are treated like a scumbag and glutton when their will isn‘t free in that matter. From the very ones who should understand how it‘s like to be the embodiment of a sin, no less. Of course, it‘s understandable to be pissed off after lending Mammon money and him refusing to pay it back, but… shouldn‘t the other brothers also struggle with their sin, or are they better at resisting the temptation and that‘s why they don‘t show any understanding towards these two?

The more she thinks about it, the shittier she feels about herself. By running away from everyone, she‘s not exactly kind to them either. So far, nobody has tried eating her, and while none of the brothers really tried anything to make her feel like this is her new home she‘s welcome in, they also didn‘t mistreat her.

Maybe she‘s wrong, maybe they aren‘t as bad as her panic makes them out to _potentially_ be like, and maybe she‘s too discriminatory towards the demon race as a whole as a result to her fear of dying.

After Beelzebub leaves with another ‚thank you‘, her thoughts just keep spiraling as she lies down on the couch, leaving the bed all to Mammon alone. She doesn‘t want to be an asshole, but she also doesn‘t want to risk getting eaten because she gets too comfortable around dangerous people and lets her guard down, but— isn‘t assuming they are going to harm her already pretty much _being an asshole_?

Haunted by her worries that descend into self-loathing, Elise fishes out her D.D.D.. There‘s just one person she can reach out to when it comes to such a problem.

_Please tell me you‘re awake_

She places the phone next to her, waiting. Soon enough, the notification sound fills the silent room.

 **Simeon (NOT Arjuna):** Is there something troubling you? I‘m here.

Elise can‘t help but smile. He‘s an actual angel.

_Thank youuuu ;w; Idk_

Remembering that Simeon is technologically inept, she holds the backspace key until her text is deleted.

_Thank you! Yes, there‘s something I need to talk about._

And so, she ends up spilling her heart out. In the end, there‘s a whole wall of text Simeon gets bombarded with.

The three dots indicating he‘s replying appear immediately, as if he‘s been waiting for her message without letting his attention drift to something else.

 **Simeon (NOT Arjuna):** I see. Did you just want to vent or are you looking for advice?

_Advice, please._

**Simeon (NOT Arjuna):** It‘s completely natural for a human to feel scared. Fear is deeply rooted in human survival, and you aren‘t a bad person for getting intimidated around people stronger than you. There may be special cases such as Solomon who aren‘t bothered, but I‘m certain most humans would react similarly to you.

 **Simeon (NOT Arjuna):** That being said, if you want your situation to improve, you can‘t keep running away. It might be easy for an angel to say, since my power equals theirs, but I have known Lucy and his brothers for centuries. They may no longer be angels, and they certainly do have changed, but I still see strong resemblances to who they used to be. There are some demons opposed to Diavolo‘s plan, but those aren‘t the ones currently looking after you. Try talking to them some more, don‘t turn the other way when they come into your sight, and I‘m sure you‘ll be fine. You don‘t have to let your guard down completely, if you feel more comfortable like that.

Putting down her D.D.D., Elise sighs. Simeon is right, she can‘t argue with him— if she wants things to get better, she has to face her problems head-on.

The anxiety rising in her chest doesn‘t make this decision any easier, though.

_Thanks for hearing me out. I‘ll do my best._

**Simeon (NOT Arjuna):** You‘re welcome 3>

 **Simeon (NOT Arjuna):** Wait, how do I turn the 3 around?

Elise cracks a smile.

—

She‘s sure she went to sleep on the couch. One hundred percent sure, no doubts whatsoever.

Therefore, it‘s a mystery to her how she ended up in her bed, Mammon‘s arms wrapped around her in a tight embrace as he drools on her shoulder.

It‘s certainly not every day that Elise has a partner in bed, something Kuro and Shiro agree with as they stare at Mammon from across the room, practically asking _who is this guy in our bed, hooman?_ while remaining on the highest spot of the cat tree to get the best view at their potential prey. (Or enemy)

Not wanting to deal with any of this right now, Elise closes her eyes and tries going back to sleep. Just as she drifts off, Mammon shifts, his legs now entangled with hers.

_Great,_ Elise thinks. _How am I supposed to sleep like that?_

It‘s not like she minds body contact, or sharing a bed with a friend. And, although she isn‘t sure whether she can call Mammon a friend just yet, or ever for that matter, there are definitely worse people she could have ended up waking up next to.

Of course, she could simply wake him up and ask him to go to his own room, but since the Devildom is always dark, there‘s no natural sunlight shining through her window that could indicate how late it is. For all she knows, it could be three in the morning and she doesn‘t want to be rude.

With a defeated sigh, Elise leans back into Mammon‘s embrace.

Hugs aren‘t so bad.

—

Next time she wakes up, she‘s staring right into Mammon‘s eyes, who flushes furiously upon getting caught and backs away, his arms which were wrapped around Elise now flailing as he gets too close to the edge, loses his balance and falls off the bed.

„Good morning to you too,“ Elise rubs the sleep sand out of her eyes and swings her legs over the edge of the bed, offering Mammon a hand.

He doesn‘t take it and shoots up himself. „Took ya long enough ta wake up! I‘ve been getting tired of looking at ya face, so ya better be grateful that I, generous as I am, didn‘t wake ya. You should pay me back for letting ya sleep next ta me.“

„Technically, I allowed you to sleep in my bed, but okay,“ Elise shrugs. She isn‘t in the mood to argue right after getting up.

Mammon flushes further at the mention of having shared a bed together. His gaze wanders to her cleavage, then to her shorts, before he turns away his head completely and coughs. „My bed, your bed, doesn‘t matter, because you puny little human got the chance ta spend some quality time with the Great Mammon.“

He‘s exaggerating, but it‘s amusing, so Elise smiles as she shakes her head in disbelief at his behavior and plays along. „What would I do without you?“

„See, ya get it. Good human.“

Silence falls upon them after Elise doesn‘t reply. Then—

„Mammon, can I ask you something?“

„Hmm? Whatcha want?“

He notices her tense shoulders and the serious look on her face. Whatever playfulness was in her tone just mere seconds ago is suddenly gone.

She struggles to say the next words, but finds her composure — at least a little bit of it — before opening up about what‘s been weighing down on her heart for the last few days.

„I apologize in advance for using this, but… Avatar of Greed, I order you to answer my question and be honest with me.“

Mammon‘s body reacts to her words immediately. He stands straight, unable to move as he waits for Elise to finish giving him his order.

There‘s an emotion in her eyes he can‘t quite describe, something cautious, hopeless, a void that has isn‘t completely dead yet because there‘s still something she wants to cling onto, and—

„Do you want to kill me, harm me in any way, or see yourself killing me in the future?“

His eyes widen in shock and he feels an invisible force clenching around his throat, almost suffocating him.

Then, the words just splurt out of his mouth, and his voice is full of horror and disbelief at what he just heard.

„What?! Of course not, why would I?! I li— I mean, I tolerate you, human.“

The last sentence comes out croaked, the power of their pact almost making him spill the beans more than he consciously wants to admit out loud.

After getting her confirmation, Elise‘s posture immediately loosens, relief washing over her quite visibly. She gets up, walks a few steps towards Mammon and then puts her arms around him, her touch all gentle and grateful. „Thank you. I‘m sorry for using the pact.“

„Tch,“ Mammon huffs, but returns the hug. Unlike hers, his grip is strong, and a faint blush covers his cheeks as he grumbles. „Seriously, what makes ya say stuff like that? Did ya fall on ya weak lil head?“

„No, I didn‘t, it‘s just… I forced you into this pact, so I thought that maybe you‘re mad and just wait for the chance to like, y‘know… get rid of it by getting rid of me.“

Mammon places her hands on her shoulders, pushing her away from his body and forcing her to look at him. He‘s pouting, but plays it off as being annoyed. „I wasn‘t _forced_ into the pact, I could‘ve said no but seeing Goldie put me into a good mood, so I agreed out of the kindness of my heart. Stupid human, don‘t misunderstand the Great Mammon like that.“

„Alright, gotcha,“ Elise laughs, causing Mammon to avert his eyes at her uncharacteristically happy expression. She then offers him her pinky finger. „I‘ll never doubt the Great Mammon again, promise.“

„Whatcha doing?“ Mammon looks at her hand, dumbfounded.

It‘s kind of a cute reaction, Elise thinks.

„It‘s a pinky finger promise. I promise to never doubt you again, you link your pinky finger with mine, and I‘ll never be allowed to break my promise.“

„So, like a pact?“ he asks, still eyeing her gesture skeptically. Elise grins.

„Yeah, kinda like a pact, but without any invisible force binding you to the whole thing or something like that. It‘s solely based on trust.“

Mammon looks up from her hand and meets her gaze, his eyebrows furrowed in confusion while he tries to grasp the idea. Eventually, he gives up trying to understand the appeal behind it. „That‘s stupid.“

Respecting Mammon‘s opinion, Elise lowers her hand, but as soon as she does Mammon grabs her pinky with his own and links them, something between a huff and a pout escaping his lips. „I didn‘t say I _wouldn‘t_ do it!“

„It‘s a pinky promise, then.“

„And ya better keep ya word!“

—

After breakfast, Mammon and Elise continue their movie marathon — this time without Beelzebub, since all the snacks have run out overnight.

Unlike before, it‘s not Mammon seeking Elise‘s comfort, but Elise snuggling up to him after watching the first five minutes of the movie.

„Hey, no falling asleep,“ Mammon chides, his cheeks tinted a deep red. Elise hugs his arm in protest.

„I‘m not tired, but this is comfier than sitting up straight,“ she retorts. „I‘ll stop if you don‘t like it, though.“

„That‘s not— just wait a second.“

With that, Mammon shifts their positions, Elise now sitting between his legs with her back leaned against Mammon‘s chest, whose back is slumped deep against the cushion of the couch so he can remain in that position for a while without getting tense. He puts his chin on her head, grumbling. „Ya can be lucky you‘re so small and don‘t block my vision, shrimp.“

„Shut up,“ Elise elbows him, pretending to be mad. She only realizes her mistake when Mammon doesn‘t say a word in return. „Oh fuck, sorry, that wasn‘t an order—!“

Mammon complains the moment he gets the chance to speak again, his arms trapping hers so she can‘t elbow him again. „Geez, ya have some nerve, human.“

„I‘m really sorry, I‘ll try to watch my words from now on,“ Elise mumbles apologetically, feeling all kinds of flustered at her own fuckup. She doesn‘t like giving Mammon orders, it goes against her morals, so she really has to pay special attention to how she words things around him.

„I‘ll forgive ya just this once.“

With that, they resume watching the movie in silence, minus Mammon‘s occasional commentary as he gets upset or angry at the lords‘ actions. It‘s endearing how much he gets invested in the story, and Elise finds herself feeling all kinds of comfortable and safe around him.

Not because he‘s her guardian, and her servant at that, but because it feels like she made another friend.

Eventually, they finish the latest TSL movie, and Mammon is horrified at the cliffhanger they chose to end it with. He shouts, his voice loud enough to make Elise relieved that his head is resting on hers, with his mouth far away enough from her ears to prevent any lasting damage.

„What?! C‘mon, ya can‘t end it there!“

Elise just pats his head reassuringly. „Don‘t worry, they resolve that conflict in the books.“

It‘s best not to mention that following up to that comes an even worse fight, and that the latest volume ends on a worse cliffhanger than the one Mammon is currently losing his mind over.

„It was nice watching movies with you,“ Elise admits, finishing for the remote control to shut off the TV. She then wriggles out of Mammon‘s grip and gets up. „But, I need to study now. We can watch a happier show next time, maybe?“

Unexpectedly, Mammon jumps up, catching her wrists and startling her in the process. „Oh no, no studyin‘ for ya! We have to get ya ready.“

„Ready for what?“ she asks, the shock slowly subduing inside her body. Fuck, Mammon scared her for a second there.

„For the competition!“

„What competition…?“

„Your TSL competition with Levi, _duh_. Ya gonna get a pact with him if ya win.“

„My what?“

Elise can‘t believe it.

And then the panic comes.

„Wait, that‘s the first time I‘m hearing of this! And what do you mean TSL competition, have you seen Leviathan? I like the series, but he _lives_ it. There‘s no way I can win, and why would I want a pact with him to begin with, and what happens if I lose?!“

The desperation in her voice doesn‘t sway Mammon the least. He remains firm.

„I told ya during class, man. And don‘t worry, I got somethin‘ that will make Levi lose his marbles so he‘s gonna fuck up and lose. Easy peasy.“

Elise can vaguely remember Mammon talking, but that was when she fell asleep in class and could barely focus on anything he was saying. All she can remember is Mammon complaining about everyone teasing him about the pact, and then doing something on his D.D.D. while mentioning Leviathan briefly. Afterwards, she was deep in her very own dreamland, unable to make out anything he was saying.

But still… making another pact just doesn‘t feel right, especially so if it‘s something forced on Leviathan in case he loses.

Which he doesn‘t expect, of course, and which would never happen in a million years if it wasn‘t for Mammon finding something to play dirty with.

It makes Elise uncomfortable to the core.

„Mammon, I really don‘t need another pact,“ she mumbles, her hands holding his, hoping this will help convince him. „I got you.“

„Of course ya don‘t need anyone else if ya got the Great Mammon on your side!“ Mammon boasts. If there wasn‘t a heavy _but_ in the air, Elise would celebrate her technique working on him.

„But—“

Ah, there it is.

„—Levi is getting on my nerves with his stupid face makin‘ fun of me, so imma get him bound to ya too and then he‘ll have nothing to laugh about anymore.“

Elise wishes to massage her temples in exasperation, but Mammon is squeezing her hands. She goes for a pained look on her face instead. „I get that you‘re upset over him tricking you into a pact and making fun of you, but does that really justify going all an eye for an eye on him? Asmodeus and Satan make fun of you too, do you want me to make a pact with everyone here? Not to mention that I personally don‘t wish to make another pact, you all should be allowed to think and act on your own, you know…“

„Ehh? Human, ya too nice,“ Mammon retorts, not impressed by her words. If anything, he thinks her point of view is weird. „If ya wanna survive in Devildom, ya have to play dirty. Demons ain‘t gonna be nice to you just cuz ya nice to them, that‘s not how it works here.“

He lets go of her hands and pats — more like slaps, but Elise believes he misjudges his strength — her back, the discussion now over for him, which is also reflected in his cheerful tone of voice. „So, more pacts it is! Now, lemme review ya about the movies so ya prepared for tonight.“

 _You just don‘t want to be the only one who has a pact with me so they‘ll stop teasing you,_ Elise thinks, tired. She sighs.

„I don‘t really have a choice here, do I…?“


	4. Human-to-Demon pep talk

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I feel like my writing is a little bit off here, but it‘s gonna be better — I think.   
> My beta said everything‘s fine, so maybe it‘s just the good old „author criticizes their own work too hard“ syndrome

Everything just happens way too fast.

One second ago, Mammon flexed an ultra rare, limited edition Henry figurine at Leviathan who didn‘t waver at any of the hard questions throughout the whole competition — and then, all hell breaks loose.

Leviathan turns into his demon form, jealousy eradicating every little piece of reason inside his head, Mammon curses and gets up, the remaining brothers look alarmed as well, Diavolo exchanges a look with Lucifer—

Next, there‘s just pain.

„Ahhhhhhh!“

Elise‘s bone-shattering cry tears through the huge student council hall. She barely manages to shield her face with her arms as Leviathan lunges at her, his eyes screaming _murder_ while his claws cut through Elise‘s flesh easily. 

Adrenaline is rushing through her body, and she feels too lightheaded to register that the large cuts on her arms are bleeding, everything inside her begs her to run, to hide, to get out of here, but before she can do any of these things, Leviathan‘s nails dig into her shoulders, trapping her.

„It‘s not fair it‘s not fair it‘s not fair—“

He‘s not being himself, or maybe that‘s a side of him Elise has never seen before, there‘s _no time_ to think about what‘s going on and when Elise locks eyes with Mammon, begging him to save her, all hope of ever having time to think about anything ever again is lost.

Mammon is too far away. He won‘t be able to make it in time. Leviathan‘s fangs are on her throat, ready to rip it open and tear out her soul.

He is going to kill her.

She‘ll die.

„Please don‘t…“, she whimpers, her eyes closed shut tightly. She doesn‘t know what‘s coming over her, but in the next moment, she grasps at the very last straws that are left for her to use. „The Lord of Shadows spared Henry‘s life when he lost their battle of wits and got enraged, and Ruri-Chan never uses violence to solve a conflict. Please, Leviathan…“

Leviathan doesn‘t say anything in return, his grip neither tightening nor lessening, his teeth not biting down on her just yet. 

Maybe she‘s already dead and God spared her of the pain, even if she‘s a sinner, maybe she wasn‘t that bad of a person throughout her life after all and deserves a second chance—

And then, Leviathan‘s mouth and hands are gone in an instant, and Elise is pulled back into reality.

Scared, not ready for what‘s to come but forced to analyze her surroundings and calculate her chances at survival, Elise opens her eyes again.

Leviathan didn‘t spare her, Mammon didn‘t save her.

It‘s Lucifer who stepped in and is currently holding Leviathan back, his magnificent yet intimidating demon form easily overpowering Leviathan‘s. He doesn‘t even budge as Leviathan tries to struggle his way out of his strong arms — to no avail, of course.

Second to Lucifer comes Mammon, his terrified look matching Elise‘s. He grabs her by her shoulders, his tough act gone for a second as he allows himself to worry openly. „A-Are ya okay?!“

Elise whines in pain, and Mammon immediately lets go as if he just touched a hot stove. His eyes widen as he notices the blood sticking to his fingers and realization hits him. „Shit, I‘m sorry! I—“

„Mammon, get her out of here. Now.“

Lucifer‘s strong, demanding voice cuts off Mammon‘s, leaving no room for any objections. Naturally, Mammon follows suit and grabs Elise by her legs and back, careful not to touch any of her wounds as he lifts her up and dashes off, all while mumbling curses to himself under his breath. „Shit, shit, shit….“

Elise can‘t remember quite well what happens afterwards — just that Mammon stays by her side as if he‘s glued to her, and that‘s what matters the most.

—

„Psst. Psst, hey, human.“

Someone shakes her, but Elise isn‘t willing to wake up just yet. She grumbles.

„Hey, no ignoring me!“

„Lemme sleep…,“ Elise groans. 

The person next to her in bed huffs.

„Ya cat is throwing up.“

This manages to make her shoot up in an instant. „God fucking dammit, Kuro, you stinky boy—!“

She scans the room, but her personal barf machine isn‘t throwing up hair balls anywhere. Instead, he and Shiro are both resting on the cat tree, a cute yawn escaping Kuro as the sudden noise wakes him up.

Elise stares at Mammon, unamused. There‘s just one word, spoken as dryly as the desert. „Why?“

„Ya wouldn‘t wake up!“ Mammon retorts, laying out his defense. „And I‘m hungry, so I wanted to get dinner. Are ya, uh… gonna be okay?“

There‘s no need to specify why he asks, Elise can remember the events at the TSL competition clearly. Not so much what happened afterwards, but Mammon promised to stay by her side for the night, even fell asleep with her in the same bed, so that‘s probably why he‘s asking for permission to go.

To be honest, she still doesn‘t feel comfortable at the thought of being alone. However, she can‘t expect Mammon to starve for her, nor does she have any right to ask him something ridiculous such as that.

Swallowing down her fear, Elise nods. If he‘s just going to grab some dinner, that short span of time he’s leaving her alone shouldn‘t hurt.

„Try to make it quick, and please grab me a banana or bread when you‘re there.“

Mammon furrows his brows, unable to understand her. „Just a banana and bread?“

„I lost my appetite after… that, but I should still eat a little bit,“ Elise scratches her neck sheepishly. She hates being questioned about her weird eating habits, the looks on the demons‘ faces when she only ever eats a small portion of her meals before offering the rest to Beelzebub are already uncomfortable as they are, but talking about it? That‘s a whole ‘nother level.

Mammon sighs, then ruffles her hair out of nowhere. „Dontcha worry, the Great Mammon is gonna get ya somethin‘ nice. I think there‘s custard in the fridge, still.“

Quite immediately, Elise‘s eyes start sparkling. She folds her hands pleadingly and looks up at Mammon, trying her best puppy eyes on him. „Custard…“

She stares at him, he stares back at her, and that goes on for a few seconds before he flushes and breaks eye contact, gulping. Elise smiles at that.

She‘s definitely getting custard now, if there is any left.

„Thanks, Mammon!“ Elise gets up quickly and pulls him into a hug. „Love ya!“

„Hey, who told ya ya could do this?!“

—

Mammon isn‘t gone for a long time before it knocks on Elise‘s door. Looking up from her cats — whom she had stolen the moment Mammon left because she was in desperate need for some fluffy cuddles on her bed — Elise shouts. „The door‘s open!“

Much to her surprise it isn‘t Mammon, but Lucifer who enters. In an instant, she sits up straight, cursing herself for not looking presentable in front of him.

Tank top and shorts just don‘t leave the best impression with one of the two demons she absolutely has to make proud of her hard work.

„I came to check on you.“

Being a man of few words, Lucifer keeps his explanation short. He probably needs to make sure her condition is good and report back to Diavolo after this disastrous evening. 

Elise nods in understanding. „Thank you for saving me back there, and for showing concern. Mammon patched me up already.“

As if to emphasize her words, Elise lifts her arms to show the thick bandages wrapped around them. Lucifer takes a few steps closer until he‘s right in front of her, eyeing the bandages skeptically. „That‘s quite a lot of bandages.“

„It‘s a bit much, but he tried his best,“ Elise retorts. She rubs the bandage covering her left arm, smiling at the memory of Mammon wrapping way too many layers around it. „I appreciate his help a lot. You sure have a sweet little brother.“

Lucifer smirks in amusement. „People usually call him scummy, not sweet.“

„Well, I can‘t argue about his sin making him do some… really shitty things,“ Elise laughs nervously. She feels the need to defend the demon who has grown on her in such a short span of time, but she can understand why people get upset with him, too. „However, he‘s got the heart in the right place, don‘t you think?“

„He certainly does,“ taking the chair at Elise‘s desk, Lucifer seats himself next to her bed and fishes a bottle out of his coat. „Although, I wish he‘d finally learn how to get a grip of himself whenever something shiny is in front of him.“

Again, she can‘t argue with that, and she‘s currently too interested in what Lucifer has in his hands to continue their little conversation. It looks familiar, somehow, so it must be a potion she‘s either seen in a textbook or store—

Her face lights up upon realization. „That‘s the Elixir of the Wounded, isn‘t it?“

„Correct,“ is all Lucifer says as he removes the bandage around Elise‘s left arm, before doing so with the right one as well. „I‘m surprised you already talked about it in class.“

„Ah, that‘s…“ Elise flushes, but sits still and doesn‘t move a muscle as Lucifer puts drop after drop on her wounds, even if she feels like fiddling her fingers nervously just now. 

How embarrassing. 

„I… kinda read ahead a bit for my potions and magic classes.“

„Lection seven isn‘t _a bit_ for your first week of school.“

„Well, I— okay, please don‘t laugh when I tell you this, but…,“ Elise shifts slightly, unsure whether she should take Lucifer‘s words as a compliment or not, but getting even more flustered by the second nonetheless. „When I went to university, I was also really busy with a part-time job to earn money, which resulted in not having much time for studying, so I… kinda got used to studying a lot within a short span of time. It also helps that I actually _want_ to learn about potion brewing and magic.“

„Even though you can‘t use magic?“

Lucifer‘s words are like a stab through her heart, the neutrality in his analyzing tone just adding to the pain. Elise bites down on her lip, barely paying attention to her wounds healing with the help of the potion Lucifer brought.

„Solomon said my magic is dormant, so maybe if I learn enough about the subject, I‘ll be able to use it one day…“

„Elise.“

Lucifer takes her hand and cups it between his own. His red eyes meet her green ones, his piercing gaze up against her wavering uncertainty. 

„Every human has dormant magic inside them, but very few are able to awaken it. Those who do, witches and sorcerers, usually do so early in their life, not as adult.“

Elise knows. Of course she does, she has read through a whole school book about it, she talked to Solomon about it, and she skimmed through several library books to find a way to awaken her magic somehow, against all odds. 

„But it‘s not impossible, right?“

Her voice almost breaks, as quietly as she speaks. Lucifer shakes his head at her stubbornness. „Elise…“

„If it‘s not impossible, then please, let me believe.“

Accepting that they aren‘t going anywhere with this talk, Lucifer nods. There‘s no use beating some sense into her if she isn‘t willing to listen.

He gets up from his seat. „I‘ll take my leave, then.“

„Wait!“

Since her hand is still between Lucifer‘s, it‘s easy to hold onto him, not letting him go. She looks up at him pleadingly, as embarrassing as it is, and asks him for a favor.

„Could you please stay until Mammon is back? I‘m still kinda…“

Elise doesn‘t need to elaborate, Lucifer understands her without any further explanation. He sits back down and moves her hand to his lips, placing a gentle kiss on the back of it.

„It is my duty to assure your safety, after all.“

Elise doesn‘t know what to think, except that maybe, _maybe_ there‘s a gentleman behind that proud and aloof appearance of his. 

And it kinda suits him well, too.

—

Lucifer keeps his promise and stays by Elise‘s side until Mammon returns. Their conversation actually turns out to be quite nice, too — Elise always thought Lucifer was a bit stuck-up, not a pleasant person to be alone with, and she never imagined them being able to have a comfortable one-on-one talk. 

It‘s not like they have much of a private conversation, nor a trivial chatter. He mainly just asks about school, asks how she‘s doing with her classes and if there‘s anything he can provide to make her adjust more easily to the unfamiliar realm not exactly fitted for humans to live in. 

Since there are no personal questions, Elise is more than happy to reply to everything, and for a second she thinks she can even see Lucifer smile in the dark as she tells him about the tasks she‘s already finished and intends to hand in soon. 

Before Elise has a chance to confirm whether she just imagined his slight twitch of the lips or not, Mammon bursts into the room without knocking, unable to do so with the stack of food he‘s carrying in both arms, reaching way beyond his eyes and covering his sight. Not that he‘d knock anyway, since he unofficially declared Elise‘s room his second room during the weekend.

„I asked for a little snack, not a five course meal,“ Elise can‘t believe her eyes as Mammon places down all of his findings on her desk. Sure, she‘s happy he‘s trying so hard for her, but… that‘s just too much!

„I‘ll help ya with anythin‘ ya weak lil tummy can‘t finish,“ Mammon turns around, only to freeze. As if struck by lightning, he points at Lucifer accusatory. „Hold on, what are YOU doing here?!“

Lucifer looks at Mammon, unimpressed. „I could ask you the same, since it‘s past curfew already, but I‘ll let it slide just this once since Elise needs company tonight.“

„You can call me Lise too, if that‘s fine with you. Sorry if I‘m crossing any lines here.“

To no one‘s surprise, Mammon chimes in immediately. „Oh hell NAW he can not!“

Lucifer, who has gotten up already, smirks into Mammon‘s direction before turning back to Elise, one hand on his chest as he bows ever so slightly to say his goodbyes. „If that‘s what you wish, I‘ll keep it in mind.“

One small glance towards Mammon, and another twitch of his lips. „Lise.“

„AAARGH, no, you can‘t do that!“ 

Unbothered by Mammon‘s shouts and wild gestures, Lucifer takes his leave, walking all straight and proud as he does so. 

Elise watches his every movement, a small blush covering her cheeks.

He looks a lot more attractive now that she knows he isn‘t a jerk.

—

Elise didn‘t expect a message so soon, but here she is, walking with Mammon to the planetarium after Leviathan reached out to her on her D.D.D..

For being such a loud personality, Mammon is unusually quiet, and while Elise suspects him of just keeping his mouth shut so Lucifer won‘t catch them outside after curfuw at first, his grim expression starts worrying her.

„Hey,“ she tugs on his sleeve lightly, causing him to look at her. „Everything okay?“

She can see his jaw clench, teeth probably gritting against one another before he takes her hand and intertwines their fingers, keeping a firm grip on her. Elise lets him.

„I‘ve been thinkin‘, and ya gotta promise me somethin‘, human.“

Elise‘s silence signals him to elaborate, and he sighs. „Yo, listen. Today, Lucifer saved ya — and I don‘t like it. I‘m ya first man, so it‘s gotta be me saving ya.“

„So, you‘re saying you‘ll rush to my rescue from now on?“ Elise can‘t help but smile, he‘s just too adorable. His wish to be her knight in shining armor touches her, to the point she‘s feeling warm and welcome.

„Exactly! I‘ll save ya, and if I can‘t make it in time, ya have to die. No gettin‘ saved by anyone else but me, nuh-uh!“

— she takes everything back. 

„You‘re better quick then, because I won‘t refuse help from someone else if I need it,“ Elise retorts, her tone cool. It‘s the first time she uses that voice with Mammon, and it makes him flinch. „H-Hey, no reason ta get mad! Ya supposed to promise me here!“

„How about _you_ promise me to be the first one at the scene when I need someone? I can get behind that, as it isn‘t a ridiculous request.“

„Well, _duh!_ Of course I‘ll be there first, I‘m ya first man, _and_ the Great Mammon, there ain‘t gonna be no stupid Lucifer to beat me to it. _I‘m_ ya hero!“

After receiving exactly the answer she was hoping for, Elise‘s frown turns into a smile. She pats Mammon‘s arm with her free hand. „Thanks, Mammon, I‘ll be counting on you.“

—

Elise‘s plan of reconciling with Leviathan is simple. Hear him out, reply to him accordingly, and leave this night behind herself.

Leviathan seems to be genuinely apologetic and ashamed of losing control of himself like that, which is why Elise forgives him immediately, happy about everything going so well—

That is, until Leviathan brings up the pact he owes her now, _as much as he dreads the idea of submitting to a human master_ , as he says, and she opens her mouth and makes yet another mistake this evening.

„Listen, Leviathan. About the pact — we don‘t need to do it. Mammon wanted to get back at you for making fun about him, but I think Lucifer scolding you is already punishment enough. Let‘s just leave it at that.“

„Oh,“ Leviathan mumbles, suddenly getting gloomy and fumbling with his sleeves, his eyes glued to the ground. His next words are barely audible, more of a monologue than directed at her. „Of course you‘d ditch the moment you won… no one would want to make a pact with a pathetic, shut-in otaku like me with no social skills and friends other than a goldfish… you just wanted to make me believe I‘m wanted only to ditch me… you normies are so cruel…“

„What…?“ Elise can‘t believe what he‘s saying. She‘s too shocked to speak for a second, and when she regains control over her body, especially her tongue, her heart reaches out for him. „Wait, stop putting words into my mouth, please!“

It doesn‘t get through to Leviathan‘s thick skull filled with a ton of self-doubt.

„Now you‘re acting all innocent, too… is it so funny to humiliate shut-ins like me publicly…? Just because you normies have friends and we‘re different from you…“

„Stop sulking like a little baby, Levi!“ Mammon shouts. 

As much as Elise loves him, she wants to punch him. Insulting Leviathan is really not the right way to approach this.

„Mammon, _silence_.“

She hates using their pact like this, but she can‘t allow Mammon being mean to his little brother. It doesn‘t feel right, and Leviathan seems to have _real_ problems that need to be taken seriously.

„Listen,“ Elise takes a few steps forward, stopping right in front of Leviathan and raising her arms, only to stop, thinking it over again. „Is it okay if I hug you?“

„W-Whaa…? Hug? Like skin-to-skin contact?!“ Leviathan scurries away, panicking. His face is flushed, whether it‘s embarrassment or panic Elise can‘t tell, but she respects the boundaries he‘s setting and lowers her arms again. „Right, okay. No body contact then, that‘s fine.“

Leviathan doesn‘t dare stepping closer after her _almost attack_ , so Elise stays rooted in her spot as well. For now, she‘s glad Leviathan stopped dragging himself down, even if it‘s shock that made him do so.

„Anyway, let me explain. It‘s not like I don‘t want to make a pact with you because it‘s you, I just simply don‘t want to make a pact with anyone. I agreed to make a pact with Mammon because I thought I was dreaming, but if I had been aware it was reality all along, I would have declined from the beginning. It‘s just— I‘m not comfortable with being something like a slave owner, and having the power to tell you guys to do whatever I want you to do, without giving you the choice to decline or agree just feels very wrong and immoral. I don‘t want this responsibility and control over another individual.“

„I bet if someone as cool as Satan or Lucifer offered you a pact, you‘d agree,“ Leviathan retorts, her words only making him become gloomier to the point that she just wants to shake him and beat some self-love into him. „Scratch that, you‘d make a pact with anyone else who isn‘t me.“

„Leviathan, _no_.“

„You don‘t even call me Levi…“

Elise gets more exasperated and helpless by the second. „That‘s because it‘s rude to call you by your nickname without permission?! If you want to, I‘ll call you Levi!“

„You‘re just saying this because you‘re pitying the loser otaku right now.“

„I never said you‘re a loser,“ Elise really loses it. Everything inside her screams to take his hands, to force him to look into her eyes and listen, but she doesn‘t want to make him uncomfortable. 

More words, then. Until he‘s willing to listen.

„Levi, I‘m an otaku too. Maybe not as hardcore as you, but I fucking love anime and manga, and I think your room is a fucking paradise. I mean, waifuing Saber? That‘s a fucking chad move, not a loser move. Hell, I admire the money and effort you put into your collection, and you keep everything clean and dust-free. If that isn‘t dedication, I don‘t know what is.“

She offers him her pinky finger, smiling. „We already have similar interests, so how about you and I become friends? I can‘t say I‘m the best at socializing too, but we can watch anime together and talk about manga. Video games are cool too, but I feel like you‘d beat my ass in any fighting game. Let me be the Henry to your Lord of Shadows — or your Lord of Shadows to your Henry, since you want to be like him so badly.“

„Is that… the legendary pinky finger promise?!“ Leviathan squeaks, excitement flooding through his veins and even more blood rushing to his face. „It‘s exactly like in _‘Oh no, my husband killed me and I got sent back into the past so now I‘m taking revenge on him with my childhood friend who‘s actually alive and the leader of the underground mafia!‘_ when the heroine and her childhood friend promise each other to stay best friends forever which actually leads to her being able to travel back in time because she has a promise to keep which she couldn‘t do in her first life…!“

Elise has no idea what he‘s talking about, but Leviathan seems happy, so that‘s good. Making him talk about his obsession makes him cheer up significantly, apparently.

It‘s actually Leviathan who grabs her hands first, his eyes lighting up and social awkwardness forgotten for a moment. „You mean, you wanna be my true friend? Like, for real? Totally and really real, no jokes, no evil mastermind schemes that will be revealed in a major plot twist at the end of your exchange year?“

„No evil mastermind schemes, promised.“

„This is…! A totally legit…! EPIC WIN!“

Despite Mammon‘s muffled, outraged noises of complaint, Leviathan locks his pinky with Elise‘s. He looks like a little kid who just convinced his mother to buy him his favorite treat at the cash register.

„About the pact I owe you—“

Elise wishes he hadn‘t brought it up again. It was going so well, and she thought this discussion was over.

Suppressing the sigh almost daring to escape her lips, Elise grimaces. „Levi…“

Ah, fuck. He looked so happy just now, but now there‘s a disappointed shimmer in his eyes. He found his very first friend that isn‘t a goldfish, made a pinky finger promise with her to become — and stay — otaku buddies, wasn‘t rejected for speaking about his interests…

She doesn‘t want him to become gloomy again if she rejects him now. 

The sigh she‘s been holding in escapes her lips after all. 

„Fine, let‘s make a pact. Just don‘t take my soul or whatever, I‘m offering you Mammon‘s Henry figure instead.“

Judging by Levi‘s sheer excitement, there‘s nothing better she could have offered, and Elise decides that she won‘t regret this pact as it made her bond with the Avatar of Envy.

She doesn‘t have to take advantage of her power over him, and if choosing Levi as her second man — as Mammon calls it — gives him a little confidence boost, it‘s worth it.


	5. Asmo, you‘re on thin fucking ice

„My, don‘t these two seem awfully close all of a sudden? I didn‘t expect Lise to be a masochist, but that‘s useful information.“

Asmodeus eyes Elise and Leviathan, taking in the rare sight of his older brother allowing a 3D-girl so close to him. They aren‘t touching, Elise is merely resting her arms on his chair as she looks over his shoulder while he‘s showing her something on his D.D.D., but it‘s a strange occurrence nevertheless. Breakfast hasn‘t started yet, so he‘s free to use his device without pissing off Lucifer, who has yet to arrive.

At the mention of her name, Elise looks up and offers Asmodeus a smile. She‘s tempted to hug Leviathan to emphasize her words, but leaves it at standing behind his chair with a safe distance between them. „I‘ve decided to adopt Levi as my younger brother because he‘s just too cute.“

Leviathan splutters at that, and Mammon who has been watching their exchange with a grim face huffs. „Ya know he‘s several thousand years older than you?“

„Yeah, but he‘s cute and I like him.“

Mammon loses it at that. „Who are ya calling cute?!“

A few days ago, Elise would have flinched at this little outburst. Now, knowing that it‘s just Mammon having one of his innocent tantrums, she smiles. „Levi, but you‘re also cute, Mammon. You don‘t have this little brother flair, though.“

„C-Cute?!“ Mammon chokes on his spit, his jealousy vanishing at the sudden compliment. He stutters. „I‘m not cute, I‘m cool! The coolest, the Great Mammon!“

It‘s then that Satan arrives at the dining hall, amused at his older brother‘s dismay. Apparently, he has heard a part of their conversation. „You should accept the compliment, because everyone else will only call you a scumbag.“

Elise wants to greet him, wants to have a fresh new start with each and every one of the demon brothers. When she looks at his face, though, her words get stuck in her throat and she remembers everything. 

Luckily for her, Leviathan speaks up before her hesitation — and sheer embarrassment — becomes obvious. „Is anyone even asking me for my opinion here?!“

„Sorry, I‘ll stop if you don‘t like it,“ Elise apologizes, briefly noticing that Asmodeus starts a conversation with Satan, which makes her sigh in relief internally. Good grief, getting on good terms with her housemates is one thing, overcoming her shyness is another one. 

The final boss, so to say. 

Once Lucifer enters the room, Elise walks around the table and plops down next to Mammon on her assigned seat. It‘s quiet for a while, with everyone being hungry and wanting nothing but to eat, but after a few minutes, it‘s Asmodeus who speaks up.

„Hey, Lise~ I noticed the clothes Lucifer provided don‘t bring out the best of you, so how about we go shopping today?“

Elise stops eating, unsure whether she should feel offended or— well, less offended. Lucifer‘s small cough beats her to a reply. „These are her own clothes.“

„Whaaat?! Well, then a makeover is long due!“

Alright, with this attitude, she should feel offended. Not all too much, because she doesn‘t care that much, but considerably so. 

And anyway—

„Aren‘t shops closed on Sundays?“

Elise looks around the table, waiting for an answer. While Mammon and Asmodeus look confused, Satan decides to explain things to her. „Unlike the Human Realm and the Celestial Realm, Sundays aren‘t days to rest in the Devildom.“

Putting a finger to his lip and tilting his head cutely, probably doing so on purpose because he knows how beautiful he looks like that, Asmodeus ponders. „Hmm, now that you mention it, I remember something like that from back then.“

„Wait, how do you know ‘bout that, though?“ Mammon directs his question at Satan, whose formerly friendly smile suddenly twitches in annoyance. As such, his reply falls short, too. „Some people read while others spend their time gambling with other people‘s money.“

„Hey, why does that feel like an insult?!“ 

Mammon gets agitated, jumping up from his seat as if to challenge Satan, and Satan smirks. 

It‘s Lucifer who breaks up the fight before it could get out of hand. „Mammon, sit down. Satan, stop working him up over trivial matters.“

Satan rolls his eyes, while Mammon follows the order with a grumble. The fourthborn, however, doesn‘t want to let Lucifer have the last word. 

He gets up, leaving his half-eaten meal behind which Beel‘s arms immediately reach for. It‘s gone in the blink of an eye.

„I lost my appetite at this pathetic excuse of an older brother act. I‘ll take my leave.“

„ **Satan.** “

The frightening tone doesn‘t work, as Satan doesn‘t halt. Instead, he purposefully slams the door shut with a loud crash, startling Elise.

She looks back and forth between Lucifer — who looks _very_ pissed off — and the door Satan just disappeared behind.

Did they always fight like this? Or maybe Satan just has a bad day, and his sin just pushes him off the edge more easily.

It doesn‘t seem to bother nor surprise anyone else, though. Instead of worried gazes like Elise‘s, there‘s mostly indifference, and Asmodeus even smiles brightly while he takes her hands in his as if _that_ didn‘t just happen.

She blinks, dumbfounded.

„Soooo~, Elise. Shopping?“

His eyes stare directly into hers, with such an intensity that it makes Elise feel off. Is there something on her face? 

She wants to wipe the corners of her mouth, but Asmodeus‘ delicate hands actually hold hers in an iron grip she didn‘t expect of him. Without even trying to add any strength — a demon thing, definitely.

Then again, if he‘s staring into her eyes, there can‘t be something around her mouth, right? Maybe he‘s just an eye person, then. She doesn‘t know what an eye person is, or if they exist, but Asmodeus might be one. Maybe.

Shit, she‘s starting to feel a bit lightheaded. 

As she usually does whenever she gets a dizzy spell, Elise stays still and closes her eyes, waiting for her balance to return. It‘s weird, because she usually just feels like this when she gets up too fast, but—

Oh. Asmodeus is trying to charm her again.

She closes her eyes, sighing. „Could you please stop? I‘ll go with you, but don‘t do this, it makes me feel dizzy.“

„Just dizzy?“ Asmodeus pouts, but stops whatever charm he‘s trying to cast on her. „No throbbing heart, no rise in body temperature, no wetness between your legs?“

She quickly pulls her hands away, and this time Asmodeus allows her to. As much as she tries to compose herself, her voice comes out a little bit too high-pitched. „Asmodeus!“

„Haha,“ whatever disappointment he just showcased is now gone, pure glee on his face as he cups his cheeks in his hands, watching Elise‘s flustered expression with amusement. „Maybe my magic doesn‘t work, but my charm sure does~ I can‘t blame you, I‘m just too dazzling, of course you‘d melt at my words. Want me to talk dirty to you, Lise~?“

He leans in, their noses almost touching. Whatever perfume he‘s wearing, fuck, it smells good. 

Of course, Asmodeus notices Elise‘s thoughts. A sly grin graces his lips, and he caresses her cheek gently. „Majolish has some nice lingerie, too. Let‘s buy some and I‘ll make you feel _real_ good, okay?“

„Oh, you are SO not going alone with my human!“

Elise has never been more glad for Mammon‘s jealousy. 

—

During the very first five minutes at Majolish with Asmodeus and Mammon, Elise realizes that she‘s truly in hell.

The Avatar of Lust is in his element, grabbing various things and dumping them all on her — don‘t they have an _‚only three or five pieces of clothing at once‘_ rule here?! — and it‘s _exhausting_.

She looks at Mammon like a lost puppy, mouthing a silent _is he always like this?_ and Mammon simply shrugs his shoulders, leaving it up to Elise‘s imagination whether that‘s just a really draining side of Asmodeus or if it could get even _worse_.

Eventually, she settles for _he can get worse_ , because after getting dragged around and bombarded with clothes in every possible shape and color, Asmodeus shoves her towards the changing room. He even wants to enter it together with her, but Mammon grabs him by his neck and pulls him back.

„There‘s enough room for three~,“ Asmodeus purrs outside the changing room. Elise can‘t see them through the curtain, but judging by Mammon‘s stammering, he‘s blushing while telling his brother to get his hands off ‚his‘ human.

And so, hours of getting undressed, dressed, presenting herself, and repeating these three steps in a seemingly endless circle go by. 

„It doesn‘t look _that_ bad on you, human.“

„Turn around, darling — Hmm, no, that‘s not it, although I‘d look cute in it!“

Mammon‘s tough and cool guy act doesn‘t allow him to compliment Elise directly, although his genuine thoughts are written all over his face with that flustered expression of his whenever Elise pulls the curtain to the side. 

Meanwhile, Asmodeus is harsh but honest with his critique. If he loves something, he gushes — talking about himself while doing so — whereas clothes that don‘t suit her make him turn her down immediately — also talking about himself, and how he‘d rock this outfit, but Elise doesn‘t. 

Just when they have settled for a huge stack of outfits that Asmodeus approves of and Elise feels comfortable in, — her purposefully leaving all the very revealing clothes behind, much to Asmodeus‘ dismay —, Elise wonders who the hell is supposed to pay for all of this, because she sure as hell doesn‘t have enough money for that. 

And Mammon is always broke, so it can‘t be him either. Also, he‘s currently returning all the items Asmodeus deemed not Elise-proof, and that might take a while. 

„Asmo,“ Elise speaks up, using the nickname he offered her throughout their shopping trip, „I don‘t have money.“

Asmodeus simply waves with his hand, acting as if it‘s not such a big deal that he‘ll ultimately have to be the one paying for what seems to be more than just a few thousand grimm. „Don‘t worry, we‘ll put it on Lucifer‘s account. He said he‘d pay for the essentials the exchange student needs, after all.“

„I‘m not sure if expensive clothing counts as _essential_ ,“ Elise counters skeptically. She highly doubts any of this plan was discussed with Lucifer beforehand.

Asmodeus, however, reacts surprised — one might even say shocked, with how he puts his hand over his heart as if he‘s having a heart attack — at her words. „Looking beautiful is _always_ essential!“

There‘s no use arguing with someone who‘s that serious about his beliefs, so Elise lets it slide. Still, she can‘t possibly make Lucifer pay for all of that.

„If you‘re making Lucifer pay, I‘ll only take three outfits.“

Asmodeus‘ so-apparent heart-attack worsens. 

„Three?! That‘s not even a fifth of what we chose! And we aren‘t even done yet, too!“

Elise looks at him quizzically. What did he just say?

„We have three whole outfits, even an additional pair of shoes I don‘t actually need. What else is there?“

Asmodeus grabs her by the shoulders, taking her by surprise. Even more so, his words do. „Well, lingerie, of course!“

Elise flushes. She should have seen that coming, especially after the conversation they had during breakfast.

Again, there‘s no use arguing with Asmodeus over something he‘s so passionate about, so—

„One set. You choose one set, we buy it, and then we leave.“

„Darling, no,“ Asmodeus caresses her cheek with his knuckles, and Mammon who has just come back from returning the items they don‘t need speeds up his pace, ready to intervene. The Avatar of Lust doesn‘t let his yells across the store bother him. „You need to try on a few sets, so we know what suits you.“

„Nice joke, Asmo,“ Elise laughs nervously. 

Asmodeus doesn‘t join in on her laughter, and a stone sinks in her stomach. Realization dawns on her. 

„That wasn‘t a joke.“

Asmodeus claps his hands together, smiling ever so sweetly. To Elise, however, it‘s a devious smile right now. „I heard that the Human Realm doesn‘t allow customers to try on underwear, but Majolish uses a cleaning spell on every piece you try on and don‘t end up buying, so it‘s completely fine here~.“

Elise wants to die right then and there, waiting for the ground to open up and swallow her whole. Of course, it doesn‘t happen, nor can she make it happen with her lack of magical power.

_I am really, truly, in hell._

—

Elise and Mammon leave Majolish looking like flustered messes whose souls have left their bodies. Asmodeus, on the other hand, looks even more energized than he was before the trip, making Elise wonder where the hell he gets all that energy from.

Her head is hurting from all the moving around and changing clothes, and not to mention all these people and their constant chatter. The already very small capacity of her social battery is so drained that she just wants to curl up in her bed and not leave her room for several days.

However, on their way back, one building close to Majolish catches her attention quite fast. She didn‘t notice it before, with Asmodeus keeping her busy, but now she can‘t help but get interested in it.

„Is the library open on Sundays, too?“

Asmodeus follows her gaze, only to make a grimace. Not much of a reader, it seems.

„It‘s open, I think, but don‘t you want to get your clothes back home first?“

„There are some books I wanted to get, rather sooner than later.“

„Well, that‘s too bad,“ throwing up his arms in a dramatic shrug, Asmodeus continues. „The books there have this really bad smell, and I can‘t let that get on me. I‘ll leave you to Mammon, then.“

Before Mammon can get between them, Asmodeus reaches out and places a kiss on Elise‘s cheek, before quickly dashing off. He sends one last wink towards the fuming Mammon. „You can thank me later for seeing Lise half-naked~“

„Could you say that any louder—“ Elise squeaks, voice barely audible as she tries to swallow down her embarrassment. 

Demons are looking at them.

At Mammon and her.

She hides her face behind Mammon who doesn‘t look much better. If she can‘t see the demons, they can‘t see her.

If only things were that easy.

„S-So, uh… library?“ Mammon scratches his neck nervously, and Elise offers him a small nod. „Library.“

But as it turns out, Mammon is a) banned from the Royal Library for attempting to steal one-of-a-kind books that aren‘t even available for borrowing due to their irreplaceability and uniqueness and b) forgot that he has an upcoming modeling gig this evening.

As such, he has to leave Elise on her own with the promise of coming back later to pick her up, running like a madman to make it to his photo shoot in time.

—

Devildom libraries are far more advanced than the ones Elise knows from the Human Realm. One would think that with the easy accessibility her university library offered, along with the handy quick search computers could do, there‘s not much more there needs to be.

But RAD‘s library, as well as the Royal Library off campus are unbelievably amazing. Their variety is broad, and not just that — they actually incorporated magic in their search system.

As such, Elise doesn‘t have to waste time looking for book names and then searching them in the huge-ass library. All she needs to do is walk up to one of the many desks and take a seat.

„I am looking for a book that makes a human who has never even heard of magic before learn all the basics and some more advanced stuff quickly. And please, add another one that focuses on potions and fits the same criteria.“

It doesn‘t even take more than five seconds for two books to fly over to her desk. The one covering the basics of magic is actually the one Solomon recommended to her when she asked him for advice, sweet. If both a talented sorcerer and the advanced library guide recommend it, it must be the best choice to go with.

Elise puts both books on her left side, planning to borrow them before she leaves. She wants to study both topics at home, but before that, she has to finish another business. 

And also, it‘s not like her guardian will return anytime soon.

Preparing for the worst, Elise speaks her next demand. „Give me every book that mentions how to awaken a human‘s dormant magic, please.“

Five books appear. Five books, out of the thousands the library has to offer on magic alone.

Elise isn‘t sure if she should be happy since there will be less work to do, or disappointed because it just kinda proves Lucifer‘s point that dormant magic will most likely forever stay dormant inside an adult.

She isn‘t willing to give up yet, though. Crying, she can do later. For now, her focus should be on finding a way to do the — almost? — impossible. 

One hour in, and she already feels like sobbing. But she‘s too proud to cry in public, so she gets angry instead.

„Goddamn stupid fucking book, stop telling me how rare it is and tell me how to do it instead. This is worse than the research I had to do for my bachelor and master theses“ Elise curses quietly, only for herself — and the book, her current object of anger — to hear. 

Or so she thought.

„You might want to start with blood rituals to determine your magical capacity and the reason why it didn‘t manifest yet.“

„Holy fucking shitsticks—,“ Elise jumps up at the sudden voice behind her, almost falling over backwards with her chair if it wasn‘t for one hand holding it upright. Her heart beats fast due to the shock, and when she looks behind her, it doesn‘t get better. „Uhh, hi… what brings you here?“

„I was trying to read,“ Satan says, lifting his other hand to reveal the thick book he‘s holding. „However, I could feel your frustration from two floors above.“

Satan looks rather amused than angry, but Elise apologizes anyway. „...I‘m sorry?“

„No need to be,“ he points at the seat next to her. „May I?“

„Yes, of course.“

With that, he sits down next to her. The moment he does, he speaks in a calm voice, this time not directed at Elise. „Blood rituals for witches and sorcerers with an unfamiliar magical background by Adelaide. The seventh version, not the eighth.“

„What‘s wrong with the eighth?“

„Typos and errors in the sigils. You want to find out more about your magical heritage, not set the room on fire,“ Satan explains. Then, he seems to get an idea, and a mischievous grin tugs on his lips. „Although, you could set a classroom on fire and blame it on the book to piss off Lucifer. I‘d pay for it.“

„Thank you, but I value my life more than money,“ Elise declines politely, stifling down a laugh. „You should ask Mammon, he‘d probably enjoy the punishment coming with it.“

„Unfortunately, Mammon is inept when it comes to hexes and curses.“

„That‘s too bad, then,“ Elise jokes along, before she takes the book as it comes floating to them. It‘s the thickest one out of each book on the table so far, but if Satan recommends it, she‘s sure it will be more likely to lead her to success than cramming any of the other books will. 

Dropping the joking tone for a genuine one, she smiles. „Thanks for helping me. You don‘t know how much I appreciate it.“

„All I did was hand you a book, but you‘re welcome.“

Strangely enough, Satan doesn‘t get up and leave. Instead, he opens the book he mentioned before and continues. 

Elise chooses not to bother him and buries her nose in her own book. Satan is responsible for her safety as well as every other Avatar of Sin is, so it makes sense for him to stick around after noticing she‘s by herself.

Another two hours pass, and Elise can physically feel the book eating away her energy. Asmo‘s shopping trip, which might as well be called a horror trip, was exhausting enough, and now that her stomach starts hurting she realizes that she hasn‘t had lunch, too. 

As much as she tries to concentrate, her focus is slipping away. 

Surprisingly enough, it‘s Satan who gets up first. „Let‘s head home.“

„Oh? Ah, but…,“ Elise checks the time on her D.D.D.. „Mammon told me to wait so he could come pick me up.“

Satan merely arches an eyebrow. „He‘s working until seven, correct?“

Elise nods, and Satan pinches his nose, letting out an annoyed sigh. „That imbecile. The library closes at six, which is only twenty minutes away from now, so unless you want to wait outside for up to two more hours, I‘d suggest we walk back together.“

Well, she really doesn‘t feel like playing tasty little lamb on the streets surrounded by a pack of wolves, so Elise is fast to agree and types a quick message to Mammon, letting him know that he should head home straight away since she‘ll be there, not at the library. 

Afterwards, she grabs the two books she‘ll need for school, as well as two more Satan recommended to her for her research and speaks up. „I‘ll borrow these four, please put the rest away.“

The library system does its magic and lets the remaining books on the table fly away to their assigned places. When Elise looks at Satan, she notices him smiling at her — again, amused about something. „What?“

„You don‘t need to say please to the magic, you know?“

„Oh,“ Elise didn‘t even register that she was doing this. Now that she does, she blushes. „Keep that between us, please?“

She wants to hit herself as she says it again, even if it‘s now directed at Satan, not an object. Satan notices, too, and snorts. „Your secret is safe with me — for now.“

Elise rolls her eyes at his statement and smiles. „Oh, _please_.“

This actually manages to make Satan laugh quietly, which ultimately turns out to be contagious enough to make Elise join in. 

Gentleman that he apparently is, Satan offers carrying her shopping bags for her. Usually, Elise would insist that he lets her carry at least one bag, but she barely knows him and doesn‘t know if he suffers from the infamous fragile masculinity syndrome. She‘d rather not insult him by wanting to carry some of her own shit to show that she isn‘t weak, so she lets him do whatever he wants.

What she didn‘t account for is that when Satan gets to put all their books inside the bags and lifts them up, he‘d see what‘s stored inside of them. His ever so composed face develops a slight, pink shade.

Noticing him getting frozen in shock, Elise follows his gaze and blushes herself. A nervous cough escapes her. 

„Asmo insisted.“

„I see.“

Awkward as this situation is, neither Satan or Elise wish to elaborate on this topic, and Satan lifts the shopping bags without another word. He refuses to lower his gaze a second time, as if to prevent seeing another inappropriate piece of clothing, and Elise appreciates that he knows how to show basic manners.

She isn‘t sure if his brothers would have been able to handle this with the same straight face and maturity.


	6. Special Request

With Elise becoming less anxious around the demons, a month goes by quickly. Between study sessions with Solomon, Simeon and Luke and watching anime with Leviathan, Elise also finds some time to go to the library with Satan, who doesn‘t mind accompanying her since he‘s usually headed there anyway. Asmodeus tries to ask her out on shopping trips sometimes, but after their first and only trip together, Elise knows it‘s best to decline politely. He‘s content with having some beauty evenings instead, and although he doesn‘t keep his hands to himself entirely, Elise appreciates that he respects her boundaries and doesn‘t try anything funny against her will.

Whenever Mammon is able to, he tags along on Elise‘s activities — that is, unless she enters a place he‘s banned from. And, as she finds out over the weeks, there are _a lot_ of places like this.

As of now, Elise is standing in front of Satan‘s room, unsure whether she should knock or not. It‘s late, and maybe he‘s reading, so she doesn‘t want to bother him and use up his time.

Before she can either knock or ditch, though, Satan‘s voice cuts her off. „You can enter.“

Unable to turn back now that she‘s been called out, Elise opens the door and makes her way into the room, careful not to trip on — nor touch — any of his books, as he‘s warned her about some very dangerous effects they could have on her upon touch. As expected, Satan is reading on his bed.

She feels a pang of guilt for interrupting him, but she doesn‘t want to wait until tomorrow. The damage is done anyway, now there‘s just to hoping Satan won‘t be annoyed.

He usually isn‘t, though. Elise tries her best to never get on his bad side, especially after witnessing a glimpse of his bad side whenever Lucifer riles him up, and so far, she has been pretty successful with that.

„I need help,“ Elise doesn‘t beat around the bush and unwraps the paper scroll in her hands, showing Satan its contents. „Solomon and I did the blood ritual with my blood and his magic, but I don‘t understand the results of it. Nothing like that is in the books, and Solomon couldn‘t explain it to me either.“

With his interest piqued, Satan takes the scroll out of her hands and studies it, eyebrows creased in such a cute way Elise adores ever since the first time she‘s seen him deep in thought like this. Now‘s not the time to pay attention to his pretty face, though, because she wants to learn more about her magic.

„There are no errors in the sigils you drew, and I can feel that Solomon‘s magic did its job correctly.“

Elise nods, signaling him she‘s listening. He continues.

„If you had next to no magic, the results would have been different. This suggests that you do have a sufficient amount of magic in your body to cast spells. Do you see this sign here?“

Elise looks over his shoulder, studying the drawing his finger is resting on. If she remembers correctly…

„This is the part about my heritage, right? If I had any close witch or sorcerer relatives over the last few generations, it would light up.“

„Correct, which means your family hasn‘t practiced magic for at least 500 years. I‘d say 700, even. Maybe more, but I don‘t want to jump to false conclusions.“

„Right, let‘s not assume stuff,“ Elise agrees. Then, she points at another symbol. „This part here confuses me. If magic runs in my family, but my close-ish ancestors never manifested it, shouldn‘t it look different?“

„Not necessarily,“ Satan retorts. He pats the spot next to him, asking Elise to sit down, before he continues. „It looks different if there‘s a natural cause for your family not to use magic, such as simply not teaching your kids how to use magic so it gets lost over the generations.“

„So, there‘s no natural cause,“ Elise furrows her eyebrows and holds her chin between two fingers, her grey cells working non-stop. She‘s so focused on trying to make sense of the results that she doesn‘t even register that she accidentally mimics Satan‘s pose. „However, the symbol for curses running through bloodlines is different. Mutations in the family also have a symbol on their own. Is there even anything left?“

„Unfortunately, I‘m at a loss here myself,“ Satan admits, much to Elise‘s shock. She stops striking a thinking pose to look at him, and for the first time ever, she sees him look defeated. 

Satan, who read and memorized every book not only in the house of Lamentation, but also in the libraries he‘s frequenting, doesn‘t know the answer. 

Which means, there is no answer. None that‘s written down on paper, that is.

With a frustrated groan, Elise falls face-flat into Satan‘s pillow. Why, out of all people, must she be a special case? Does that even increase or decrease her chances of ever unlocking her magic?

She can make out Satan casting some spells on the scroll, commanding it to reveal its true nature, but according to his tone getting less and less patient with every passing spell, it‘s not working. In the meanwhile, Elise is too depressed to get her face out of his pillow. 

It‘s only when Satan suddenly turns into his demon form that Elise looks up — and holy shit, he‘s seething. Worse than what arguments with Lucifer have brought out of him so far.

„Hey, hey, we‘ll find a way!“ it might be her very own death sentence, but Elise grabs his hands, holding them in hers in hopes it will calm his nerves. She‘s nervous, very fucking nervous, but tries not to show it. „Sometimes, the answer isn‘t right in front of you, that‘s why I went to you with the results. I trust you to be able to put the clues together somehow, even if it will take time.“

Ah, wait, fuck. Maybe that came out as a little bit too rude and demanding.

She stammers. „I-I mean, if you want to, that is! It‘s fine to decline, I don‘t wanna bother you with my stuff. It‘s just — you‘re really smart, so I think you‘d be the best person to turn to? I mean, you‘re the first one who came to my mind, and even if I had spent hours thinking this through, the results would be the same. A-Anyway, I‘m rambling, so if you‘re up for it, please be my detective?“ 

Satan isn‘t throwing anything across the room, and his eyes seem a bit clearer now, not clouded by rage alone. Still, he‘s not back in his human form yet, so he must still be on the edge.

Elise does the next best thing coming to her mind and fishes out her D.D.D., unlocking it in record time and opening her gallery. She presses play on the most recent video and almost shoves her device into his face, as fast as she moves. „Here, look! I brushed Shiro‘s fur earlier today!“

When Satan takes the D.D.D. out of her hands, she doesn‘t know yet if he‘s going to smash it to pieces or calm down. A few seconds into the video, his finger turning up the volume to its maximum to listen to the loud purring and his eyes fixed at the screen as if they are drawn to it, Elise decides that she actually made a good decision for once.

It takes Satan a few more minutes to let go of his demon form, but Elise has more than enough cat videos and pictures to keep him distracted. 

She‘ll remember this technique, definitely.

—

After that incident, Satan asks Elise for a few blood samples to research the meaning behind her test results. Having no reason not to trust him, she offers him as much as he needs. 

For the next few days, she‘s barely able to see him. He gets up later than usual, rushes his breakfast, somehow manages to make it to school in time and disappears into his room right after classes, not coming out unless it‘s for a quick lunch or dinner.

Apparently, not knowing the answer to the scroll‘s strange symbols upsets him more than Elise originally thought. Then again, it makes sense — she‘d be bothered as well, has lost her mind over some hard tasks she couldn‘t solve back in high school and university too, and with Satan being insanely smart and likely holding himself on a high pedestal, it should come to no surprise that failure is unacceptable for him.

He even declined Elise‘s request to join him in his research. Of course, she knows she‘ll be of no help, she just wants to learn by watching him, but he either gets too nervous letting others watch him do stuff he doesn‘t know the results of yet, or he doesn‘t want to let others see how he struggles and fails in his attempts to reach the truth, sparing himself from the public embarrassment. 

Both are solid reasons not to let Elise join him, so all she can do is wait. 

„I see,“ is what Solomon says after she lets him in on Satan‘s findings. With his usual sketchy smile, Solomon leans back in his seat and holds his chin between his thumb and index, God-knows-what going through his mind while he eyes Elise with interest. „So, even the Avatar of Wrath has yet to solve the puzzle. I must say it‘s quite astonishing that out of the whole non-magical human population, Diavolo chose an exchange student whose magic isn‘t simply dormant, but something else entirely.“

Elise doesn‘t miss the hidden insinuation. With Solomon, there‘s always more to it than he shows openly. 

„You think Diavolo chose me because my magic is all kinds of messed up?“

„Maybe, maybe not,“ Solomon replies. There‘s something shining in his eyes, something Elise can‘t define, an emotion that feels familiar yet so strange. 

He opens his mouth once more. „But even if it was a coincidence, it might be tied to fate.“

„Do you believe in fate?“ 

„To a certain degree, yes. Do you believe in it?“

Sighing, Elise slumps her back against the library seat as well. Due to Satan‘s current _situation_ , he‘s no longer able to visit the Royal Library with her, so Elise asked Solomon to accompany her. She considered asking Levi, too, especially after seeing the huge manga section, but he‘s been busy setting up some kind of ritual for his fictional 2D waifu. 

Which is kinda cool, but doesn‘t allow Levi to leave his room, nor does he let anyone enter it.

„Honestly, I don‘t know what to believe in anymore,“ Elise admits. She stares at the ceiling, as if hoping her answer would be there somehow, magically appear in front of her, but of course it doesn‘t.

Things are never easy, and it makes her tired. 

„I mean, up until a few weeks ago I was certain supernatural things don’t exist and that religion is some stupid scam that exploits people‘s fear of dying by feeding them exactly what they want to hear, namely stories of an afterlife and paradise. Now, God suddenly exists, demons and angels exist, magic is real and fucking unicorns, too. Honestly, at this point I wouldn‘t even be surprised if some myths like King Arthur and his Excalibur are real.“

„Some are, some aren‘t. Regarding Arthur, I actually met him some years back.“

Elise throws him an incredulous look. „Well, fuck me sideways, I guess.“

„I‘d rather not until the third date,“ Solomon smiles, nothing in his tone of voice or facial expression giving away whether he‘s joking.

However, it‘s Solomon. He‘s all tease and play, enjoys pressing buttons that make people react certain ways. Despite his sketchy appearance, Elise figures that he‘s not a bad person — if anything, he only wants to get amused by others because life is boring as a sorcerer who can get almost anything he wants in life with his talent.

Still, good person or not, Elise really wishes to throw the heaviest book on the table at his face. 

—

Once home, Elise is abducted by Beelzebub and brought to the kitchen. This, too, has become a rather frequent event ever since the Avatar of Gluttony found Human Realm recipes online and made it his personal goal to try all of them — specifically prepared by a human, since they know what they are doing and Beelzebub would end up eating all the ingredients before he‘s done cooking anyway.

Luckily for him, Elise is good at cooking. He just needs to show her whatever recipe he wants to try out and she‘ll make it for him.

Today‘s experiment is lasagna. It takes a while, especially with Elise wasting time trying to fend off Beelzebub as she‘s cooking, but the end result looks tasty.

So tasty, in fact, that it‘s gone in a second, Beelzebub‘s giant black hole of a stomach having devoured it the moment Elise took it out of the oven. 

The very first time this happened, she panicked and asked him whether he‘s okay, if he burned himself, and if she needs to call Lucifer. Now, however, she‘s used to Beelzebub having an iron stomach and mouth when it comes to food, unable to ever hurt himself while eating burning hot meals.

As such, she ends up laughing at Beelzebub’s impatience. It‘s kind of a compliment, she likes to think, and he just looks too endearing with that happy face of his lighting up at the taste of her human food. His words, as few and repetitive as they are, also manage to bring a smile to her face. „Tastes good. Want more. I‘m hungry.“

Elise pats his shoulder in an attempt to cheer him up. Still, she can‘t stifle her laugh as she speaks. „Sorry, you ate all of it already and we don‘t have the ingredients to make another serving. Dinner‘s in an hour, will you survive until then?“

Beelzebub looks down on his stomach, which actually has the _audacity_ to growl despite just having received several servings of lasagna. His happy expression distorts into a worried, sad one as he rubs his dying tummy. „I‘m not sure if I can…“

Another word chimes in, loud and clear, authoritative even. „That‘s too bad, because you won‘t get anything else before dinner.“

Lucifer, who is on cooking duty that day, enters while crossing his arms in front of his chest. He‘s staring down Beelzebub, and as strong as his hunger might be, it can‘t possibly make him defy Lucifer‘s orders.

Looking like a kicked puppy, Beelzebub leaves the kitchen. He‘ll probably search for any leftover snacks in his room, before looking through his brothers‘ and Elise‘s room. As long as he doesn‘t take a bite out of her cats — which he won‘t, Satan made sure of that — she‘s fine with that.

Lucifer eyes Elise skeptically. „You aren‘t planning on leaving?“

„Not yet,“ Elise shakes her head, and then offers him a small smile. „I didn‘t have time to clean up after myself yet, and I can‘t leave a messy kitchen to you. I‘ll make it quick so I don‘t bother you.“

Not having expected such a reply, Lucifer seems to be taken aback for a moment. Then, his lips twitch upwards in something that looks like pleasant surprise. „Very well, it‘s relieving to know _someone_ in this house knows how to show basic manners. There‘s no need to rush, though, as there‘s enough room for the both of us here.“

Elise feels a weight lift off her heart as he assures her she‘s not a burden to him. While her relationships with his brothers kept improving over the past few weeks, Lucifer is still hard to read, and she doesn‘t know how to act in front of him, how far she can go without appearing rude or bratty. 

With Mammon and Levi, Elise knows she can joke around without any consequences. Recently, she even started dissing Mammon, as she loves to do with people she cares about and feels comfortable around. She wishes to do so with Levi too one day, but he‘s too insecure as of now, and Elise doesn‘t want to upset him with things that were meant to be a joke. 

Lucifer, though? He might be a fan of dad jokes, as he has frozen Mammon‘s credit card quite literally, but Elise can‘t tell if he‘d appreciate her humor, especially when it‘s at the cost of him. He‘s the Avatar of Pride, and if she accidentally hurts his pride with a stupid joke, the consequences of it might be _bad_.

Therefore, she chooses not to test her waters just yet. 

Or ever. 

It‘s not like she needs the same kind of friendship she has with Mammon and Levi with Lucifer as well, because Lucifer is quite a pleasant person to be around without all the teasing and laughing. Conversations with him are mature, he‘s clearly an intelligent person, and Elise loves having some deep discussions every once in a while.

She doesn‘t even notice how much time passes as she‘s too focused on talking to Lucifer about school and trivial things, such as their favorite food or the kind of music they enjoy listening to. When she‘s done cleaning and takes a seat at the table, keeping up the conversation, Lucifer doesn‘t complain about her presence.

It actually makes her sad that they don‘t have moments like these often.

—

That night, Elise takes a break from studying and asks her best friends if they have time for a phone call instead. After university, they all started working different jobs in different cities with different shifts which made it harder for them to meet up in person.

The current exchange program, one of which they are probably not even aware of unless Diavolo informed them, only adds to the chaos. 

„Bitch, you‘re alive,“ is the first thing she hears when she opens up Discord on her D.D.D. — which actually works in the Devildom and is available on the Devildom App Store — and joins the voice chat. Elise laughs. „You might or might not believe it, but work actually keeps me quite busy at the moment. No more time for mindless scrolling on Twitter and Discord, I need to get them smarts and cash money.“

She receives two „F“s in the chat in an instant. 

As usually with her two best friends, they hit it off without talking about anything in particular. One thing comes up, it causes another one to tell them a story, they remember the good old times and bring up some past memories they can laugh about together, some mindless teasing and insults here and there — and, every once in a while, an important topic comes up.

„Say, Lise. Your mom told my mom that you‘re on some kind of exchange program?“, Inna asks. June, who has heard about that for the first time, gasps in exaggerated surprise. „Didn‘t you say you‘d never do that because of your cats?“

„Well, yeah,“ Elise chuckles nervously. She doesn‘t want to lie to her best friends, but at the same time they‘d never believe the whole demon stuff unless they were exposed to it like she was, so she has to come up with something that‘s not exactly a lie and covers her ass so she won‘t have to feel guilty for not telling the truth.

If there‘s one good thing to her tendency to overthink, it‘s that it prepares her for situations like this one. She already imagined this scenario in her head and how she‘d respond, so it‘s easy to come up with an explanation. „Sorry for not telling you in advance, the offer came up very suddenly and I didn‘t really have a choice but to accept since this is an opportunity that will never come again and I can gather some valuable life and work-related experience here. Since I‘ll stay here for a year, I was allowed to bring my cats along, so everything is gucci.“

„You‘re still going to come, right?“ Inna suddenly sounds very concerned. It‘s not like her to openly show that something is bothering her, so the red alarm signals in Elise‘s head start ringing immediately. „Come again?“

„To my wedding,“ her best friend clarifies. „It‘s in two weeks.“

The news hit Elise like someone is shoving a pole through her gut. And, although her face isn‘t visible to her friends, the shock is more than just a little bit apparent in her voice as she talks way too fast. „Say what?! Wait, your wedding was supposed to be next year! Don‘t tell me I got the fucking year wrong, oh shit, oh fuck.“

„We had to move it forward because my gran‘s health started declining unexpectedly,“ Inna explains, a sigh she is unable to hold back escaping her lips. Elise gulps, the bad feeling inside her stomach worsening. „Fuck, I‘m sorry to hear that.“

„Seriously, do you never check your mail?“ June acts like Elise is a hopeless little child who hasn‘t learned after the third time of touching a hot stove and hurting herself. „What if there‘s a letter from the police and you get in trouble for ignoring it for a month?“

„Bold of you to assume Lise would get in trouble when she doesn‘t even leave her house,“ Inna joins in. „I sent you a message on WhatsApp though, surprised you didn‘t even see that one.“

Well, that explains how Elise didn‘t get notified about the change of plans. While Discord works down here, services that require a Human Realm phone number don‘t, as the Human Realm telephone providers don‘t operate down here. 

She hits her head against her desk, hard. The pain is only small compared to the worry that‘s feeding away on her heart right now.

„I swear, I‘ll do anything to make it to your wedding, even if I have to make a pact with the devil. Send me the details in DMs and I‘ll talk to the head of this exchange program asap.“

—

As promised, first thing Elise does the next day is head right over to Diavolo‘s office once lunch break starts. 

She‘d be lying to herself if she said that asking the crown prince, as friendly and goofy as he may seem, for a favor didn‘t scare her. 

She. A mere human. 

However, this is the one time, the one situation where she has no choice but to negotiate with him. Her best friends are everything to her, and if she were to miss one of their weddings... she‘d never forgive herself for that.

Her loyalty is the only reason why she can muster up the courage to knock on Diavolo‘s door, and enter once she‘s called inside. Her sudden appearance must come as a surprise to him, too, because his eyes widen at her first ever visit to him.

„Elise, it‘s good to see you!“ his surprise is quickly replaced with a cheerful smile, dimples and all. Unfortunately, his warm and welcoming presence doesn‘t ease the anxiety slowly growing bigger inside Elise‘s chest. „How can I help you?“

„I need three days off and visit the Human Realm in about two weeks.“

Well, fuck. Maybe she got the cat out of the bag too fast.

Oh, she definitely did. You don‘t just enter the demon lord‘s office, skip the greeting and voice your request. That‘s moronic, totally stupid, and she did _just that_ because her mind was too busy panicking to form a coherent greeting sentence.

Is it too late to run away now? No, she can‘t do that. Diavolo being able to catch up to her with ease aside, it‘s for Inna‘s sake. She has to go through with it, even if she‘s digging her own grave in the meantime.

Elise has to make it to the wedding. Dying can be postponed until after that event.

Diavolo looks sad at her announcement, and it‘s a sight that hits Elise harder than she expected. Probably because when Diavolo looks sad, he looks similar to Beel — like a kicked puppy. „Are you not happy in the Devildom?“

His question startles Elise, and she‘s fast to reply, her hands quickly waving in front of her chest as if to deflect his wrong assumption. „Ah, no, that‘s not it! I‘m having a good time here, actually, it‘s just — you see, an emergency came up. My best friend is going to marry in two weeks and I _need_ to be there, or else—“

She‘s cut off by Diavolo.

„Say no more!“ he‘s beaming, _actually beaming_ as he claps his hands together, excitement visibly written all over his face. „A human wedding, yes, that‘s a great idea! By attending a human wedding, demonkind will develop a better understanding for your tradition and values, which will make it easier to unite all three realms.“

He gets up from his seat and walks around his desk, over to Elise who didn‘t even make it to the seat opposite Diavolo to sit down, still standing in the middle of the room like a lost sheep. Smiling, the demon prince places a hand on her shoulder, patting it a few times. „I highly approve of this idea! Write down the details and everything you need and I‘ll make sure you‘ll be able to take a few days off.“

Elise blinks, dumbfounded. 

Well, that was easier than expected.

„You need someone to accompany you, though. Barbatos, Lucifer and I are the only ones able to operate the portals to the Human Realm and back to the Devildom, so I‘ll ask Lucifer to be your guide and protector while you‘re up there having fun. I‘m sure it will be a worthwhile experience for him, too.“

„I— thank you so much, Lord Diavolo,“ now that the anxiety is slowly dying down, Elise feels like crying. She was so worried about this talk, about the lengths she‘d have to go to, but Diavolo just _lets her_ without asking for anything in return. 

She blinks her tears away before they can spill, refusing to cry in front of Diavolo. „Thank you so much, I appreciate it a lot. Like, _very_ much.“

He ruffles her hair in a teasing yet comforting manner, causing her to crack a small, genuine smile.

—

News travels fast, and by the time Elise shares dinner with the Avatars of Sin, each of the brothers has already heard about the upcoming trip.

Surprisingly, Mammon takes it quite well. They soon learn the reason for it as he slings an arm around Elise‘s shoulder, pulling her close as she almost chokes on her omelette due to the sudden movement. „It‘s real nice of ya to organize this vacation, Lucifer. Don‘t worry, ya can just lean back and leave it to the Great Mammon, I‘ll accompany my human and make sure she won‘t get eaten.“

Elise, still choking with Mammon not bothering to hit her back and freeing her of this pain, can‘t reply to his absurd statement. Lucifer, however, lowers his wine glass elegantly as always and tears his little brother‘s dream apart piece by piece with his ever so calm and composed voice. „In fact, it will just be the two of us who will visit the Human Realm. I don‘t feel like filling out the extra paperwork that comes with bringing along another demon.“

„Eh?! Why?! Switch with me, then!“

Lucifer eyes Mammon like he‘s an idiot. Then, he shakes his head in disappointment, acknowledging that his brother _is_ , in fact, an idiot. „You can‘t use the portals, nor do you have any basic manners befitting of a wedding ceremony.“

„Give it up, Mammon. Lise wouldn‘t want you as her date, anyway,“ Asmo butts in, adding a dramatic hand gesture simply because it looks good on him. Mammon, of course, immediately starts protesting, but—

„Actually, I have to agree,“ Elise croaks out, the omelette finally down her throat but leaving a sore feeling as a result due to all the coughing. Mammon, who has pulled her so close that she‘ll fall off her chair without his arm‘s support, almost drops her.

She offers him an apologetic look. „You tend to cause quite a scene wherever you go, and while I don‘t mind it here, a wedding is a special day for the bride and groom so all of the attention should be drawn to them alone.“

Also, he‘d probably pickpocket the guests and steal some expensive wedding gifts, but she leaves out that part. 

Rejected by both his brothers and Elise, Mammon starts pouting — it‘s not pouting, he claims — while they continue their meal. Satan is the first one to get up, quickly returning to his room to put his heart into research once again, and Asmodeus uses his absence as an excuse to tell everyone how scary Satan is recently.

„I knocked on his door a few days ago to remind him that he‘s on kitchen duty and he _threw a book at me_!,“ he clenches his heart and looks around the table, searching for some form of pity no one but Elise is willing to offer him. „Can you believe this? _At my beautiful face?_ He could have left a bruise, or even worse, a scar if I hadn‘t ducked in time!“

„Last time I walked by, the door was slightly open,“ Leviathan shudders at the memory he‘s recalling. „He laughed like the seventh antagonist from _I got sucked into the fantasy novel I was reading and now I‘m stuck being the heroine and I have to defeat the thirteen evil overlords, please save me?!_ who used to be a normal scientist before an experiment gone wrong fried his brain and he can no longer feel pleasure from anything except killing people during his crazy experiments. I mean, Satan isn‘t _that_ level of crazy yet, he‘s a solid six out of ten on his sanity score, but I heard him call whoever he‘s competing against a [REDACTED] he‘ll [REDACTED] and then [REDACTED] before going to [REDACTED] and [REDACTED] because they are so full of themselves and think they are the smartest [REDACTED] in all three realms who could be a match against him but he‘ll show him who‘s the better one out of the two of them.“

Silence falls over the dinner table at Leviathan‘s graphic description of Satan‘s words. Elise knew that Satan‘s pride is hurt since that riddle left behind inside her blood is proving to be difficult even to someone as smart and knowledgeable as him, but… wow.

He must be _really_ pissed off and not lose himself to his sin solely because of his great composure, it seems.

She doesn‘t feel like eating anymore all of a sudden.


	7. Chapter 7

The next two weeks are hectic, to say the least. Between studying extra hard to cover for the days she‘ll be missing and Mammon‘s ongoing sulking — he still refuses to call it sulking or pouting — Elise has to take care of the preparations. 

Buying a dress with Asmo proves to be even more exhausting than their first shopping trip, because the Avatar of Lust insists on her buying something to show off her body while she has to remind him that it‘s _a wedding_ and not even hers, on top of it. After one hour of persuading and pulling out the romance card on Asmodeus — because if he loves one thing more than lust, it‘s _love_ — by exaggerating about how human weddings are a day full of undying love, trust and commitment, Asmodeus is willing to drop the idea of shoving her into sexy dresses and selects cute ones instead. 

Much to Asmodeus‘ disappointment, Elise chooses the one that makes her stand out the least. To „shop away his sadness“, he makes Elise buy several pieces of lingerie they didn‘t purchase last time. Knowing well not to pick fights she‘s going to lose, Elise agrees and ends up improving Asmodeus‘ mood significantly.

—

Elise can‘t tell if her sudden headache comes from the transportation spell Lucifer used earlier that day or is caused by the new information that needs to sink in right now.

Nevertheless, her head hurts, and she suppresses the wish to slam her head against the recipient‘s desk. Instead, she runs a hand through her hair and sighs. „This is the most cliche romance trope ever. I can‘t believe it.“

Next to her, Lucifer stands all proud and tall, seemingly unbothered by what they were told just now. She doesn‘t know if it‘s all just an act to save face or if he really doesn‘t care at all. 

The recipient offers them their best customer service smile, one that Elise knows all too well from her former retail part time jobs, that one smile meant to suck up to people while getting seriously annoyed at them.

„I‘m sorry, but this is the only room we could book with only a two weeks notice in advance.“

„It‘s fine, I‘m the one who should be apologizing,“ Elise assures, not wanting to make a scene and bother the employee who is just doing his job. The recipient looks surprised at that — not that Elise can blame him. Nice and understanding customers are rare to come by. „We‘ll take the room anyway.“

„Here are your keys, then. Please sign here and here for a second — thank you.“

The room in question looks nice. Hunting for a good hotel on such a short notice is hard, but somehow Elise managed to get a room that‘s neither shabby nor too expensive.

And, it has a double bed.

Just one, in the middle of the room, and no couch Elise could escape to to leave the bed to Lucifer alone.

What‘s especially unnerving is that Lucifer hasn‘t said a single word about their sleeping arrangements yet. Therefore, it‘s Elise who has to be the one breaking the ice between them. „At least it‘s big enough?“

Apparently that was a shit thing to say, because Lucifer eyes her with a weird look, one that questions why she would say that. She shrinks under his gaze.

Eventually, he‘s the one doing the talking. „Do you mind body contact?“

„Oh, it‘s not that! I‘m used to sharing beds with friends,“ Elise is quick to reply, not wanting Lucifer to think she‘s got an issue with him in particular. He knows that Mammon shares a bed with her frequently, so he _might_ take it personally if she voices concern here. Maybe. 

„Actually, I was more worried about you minding me being in the same bed as you,“ she adds, scratching her cheek in embarrassment as she admits her inner feelings. 

Lucifer has the audacity to smirk at her shyness. „Well, if the two of us don‘t mind, I don‘t see a problem here.“

„Right.“

With that, Elise unlocks her phone and checks the time, both to avert Lucifer‘s eyes and to actually find out what time it is. She‘s going to have a girls night out with her friends soon, so she should get ready.

As she opens her suitcase to pick out some clothes for the night, the next shock hits her. Her pajamas and underwear are missing, although she‘s one hundred percent sure she put them into her suitcase. Instead, something she definitely _didn‘t_ put inside is there, lying on top of her dresses as if mocking her. 

It‘s the lingerie Asmo forced her to buy, and… is that a fucking whip?!

One look at Lucifer who is also unpacking tells her that his suitcase has been tampered with, too. A growl escapes him, one with such an intensity that makes a cold shiver run down Elise‘s spine in an instant.

„I‘m going to kill Asmo.“

—

Lucifer and Elise silently agree not to talk about that night, or the one that is going to follow. When Asmodeus asks her to snap a picture for him, because apparently he has never seen Lucifer naked or even shirtless, Elise is quick to reply with a sticker that spells out a big **NO**.

Her hope that Lucifer could just clean the underwear they‘ve been wearing when arriving to the Human Realm with a hex was destroyed the moment he replied that he does not know of such a hex, since it‘s one developed and trademarked by Majolish and Lucifer has never been forced inside a situation that required him to put the time and effort into recreating a similar spell. 

Not until now.

At least, their Elise‘s dress and Lucifer‘s tuxedo remained in their suitcases. If Asmodeus had removed them as well, Elise would have killed him.

—

Entering the church where the wedding ceremony will get held with the very demon who rebelled against God and fell from grace feels weird, to say the least, and Elise makes a mental note to pray to God for the first time in a decade and ask him not to blame her best friend for the devil‘s presence on his holy ground. 

She can tell that Lucifer isn‘t quite happy about it, too, so she holds his hand as they sit down and offers him a reassuring smile. He doesn‘t reply, but he doesn‘t withdraw his hand either, and if Elise‘s intuition isn‘t wrong he seems to ease up a bit, too. 

Maybe it‘s because he remembers that he‘s only here to play a role, so there‘s no need to waste his thoughts on the father he has long rejected and turned his back towards.

„Heyho~“, June walks up to them and takes a seat next to Elise, but not without throwing a quick glance at Lucifer. „I spot a Lise and her boyfriend~“

Since it‘s highly unlikely for Elise to have another man accompany her to Inna‘s wedding unless she was in a serious relationship with him, Lucifer and Elise agreed to pretend being lovers. It took a while to come up with a believable story they can both stick to, but so far there‘s no suspicion about them yet, even after the several questions about her boyfriend during last night‘s girls night out.

As expected of him, Lucifer is a great actor with even greater manners. He offers his hand for June to shake and nods in acknowledgment. „I believe we haven‘t met yet. My name is Lucifer, and I believe you are June, Lise‘s best friend?“

„Ding ding ding, correct!“ June laughs, giving him a firm handshake. „You know, it‘s quite funny how your name‘s Lucifer.“

„June,“ Elise tries in a reprimanding voice, but ultimately gets ignored. Even more so as Lucifer raises an eyebrow at her best friend. „Oh? How so?“

„Cuz it‘s the devil‘s name, duh,“ June replies. Before Elise can stop her, she continues, a hand covering one side of her mouth as if she‘s telling Lucifer a secret. „Lise had this really cringey emo phase where she was all like _God doesn‘t exist_ and _I‘d rather pray to Satan_. She even told Jehova‘s witnesses that she‘s a Satanist with a straight face when they tried to stop us at the train station. Poor guys looked like they had a heart attack and tried even harder to save her from this sinful life as a nonbeliever.“

Elise flushes at the mention of that. She wouldn‘t mind June telling her human boyfriend these stories, but it‘s _Lucifer_ , who is _very much enjoying_ these recollections of her past. 

There‘s a sadistic smile on his face as he asks June for more (embarrassing) stories with the politest fucking tone he could muster, and Elise feels like dying as June is more than willing to share them with him. „Lise got really into fiction that includes demons. After becoming fan of some manga with a demon butler, she drew the pact mark depicted in the show on her hand during class and got reprimanded for it. She didn‘t draw it on her hand again, but her notes were covered in pentagrams.“

„I was young and stupid,“ Elise complains. June, however, isn‘t done yet. „Every time we watched a movie and the seven deadly sins were part of it, she got way too excited and named all the sins. When they didn‘t specify which character was which sin, she tried to figure it out even if it wasn’t a major plot point. To this day, I can only name them all because I had to endure Lise‘s rambling so many times that the information just got stuck in my memory forever.“

If Elise could manifest her magic, she would have created a hole in the ground to swallow her whole. Sadly, the lack of control over her magic is exactly the problem she‘s trying so hard to solve as of now, so she has to live through the humiliation in front of the _Avatar of Pride himself_.

„I didn‘t know you were such a fan of the seven deadly sins,“ Lucifer turns toward Elise. His friendly expressions turns into a teasing one as they lock eyes, and if Elise didn‘t want to die already, she does now. 

„Dude, the seven deadly sins are her guilty pleasure. Give her some manga or book about them and she‘ll suck it up like the whore she is,“ June laughs, elbowing Elise playfully. „She even started writing a romance novel about a girl falling in love with one of the sins. Sloth, I think — although personally, I think she should have gone the lesbian option with Wrath because she made that sin into some sexy, hot-blooded demon lady.“

Lucifer‘s face darkens for a second at the mention of Sloth, before his composure returns and makes him act out his friendly role again. Still, Elise notices the way his grip on her hand stiffens, and she chooses to shut June up for good before she brings back more unpleasant memories of the so-apparent fight Lucifer had with his brother before sending him to the Human Realm.

„Enough about humiliating me in front of my partner, I want to hear more about the business trip you mentioned yesterday before Clarissa puking on Amy‘s shoes cut you off.“

„Oh yeah, about that —“

Luckily enough, Elise is able to defuse the bomb that might or might not have been brewing inside Lucifer as she changes the topic and makes June rant about her idiotic colleagues making work harder for her. 

She doesn‘t even notice that she started stroking Lucifer‘s hand with her thumb absent-mindedly in a calming manner.

—

After surviving the wedding ceremony without God‘s wrath setting the whole building on fire for letting a demon attend, Elise and Lucifer hop inside June‘s car to drive to the dining location. Elise and June chat away, just letting themselves go while including Lucifer every now and then so he doesn‘t feel left out.

„Actually, who‘s taking care of your cats now?“ June asks. 

„I asked one of Lucifer‘s brothers who lives in the same building complex,“ Elise answers. June and Inna know that Lucifer has many brothers, and in the story they made up the two of them met after Elise befriended one of his brothers, which led to her getting to know the whole family after a while. „He has a goldfish, so I think he‘ll be able to do the job just fine.“

„Fish and cats are quite different,“ June snickers. „But if you trust him, sure. Let‘s just hope the goldfish doesn‘t end up dead.“

„If Henry dies, I‘ll be the next one to end up dead.“

„I‘ll design your gravestone with Inna. _Elise, whom we loved dearly. She died as she lived, and we‘ll mourn the loss of one third of our braincell. She still owes me a million bucks after signing a contract stating that I‘ll give her a piece of gum if she promises to pay me back this exact sum one day, though_ “

„Fuck you, I‘m sure you owe me a billion from all the bets I‘ve won.“

„Did I sign a contract while doing these bets, though? Checkmate, bitch.“

„Cunt.“

If Lucifer is surprised at Elise‘s sudden colorful language, he doesn‘t show it. Every now and then, Elise checks up on him to see if he‘s feeling uncomfortable, only to notice that he‘s taking their trip quite well and even seems to be a bit more relaxed than usually. 

Probably because he doesn‘t have to babysit his brothers and be at his best behavior all the time.

June sticks around them even after the drive, and they end up seated around a small table at the buffet. Inna, after having several conversations with all her other guests, accepting their congratulations and gifts with a smile, joins them as well. 

„You‘re Lucifer, I assume?“ the bride asks after she receives three more congratulations on her wedding. Lucifer nods, and Inna eyes him up and down, before looking at Elise. „Fits, I guess.“

„You can spare me the embarrassing stories because June already did that part _splendidly_ ,“ Elise sighs, sensing the disturbance in the force as Inna makes the same connection June did a few hours ago. 

Inna smiles at that. „Oh, June already told me he passed part one of the test.“

Lucifer looks at Elise as if asking her for an answer as to what Inna is talking about, and Elise freezes. 

Oh, fuck. Not the test.

„Guys, I‘m an adult,“ she tries, but her best friends don‘t want to hear any of it. Inna even goes as far as to raise her index finger as if reprimanding a child. „An adult who is too much of a naive pushover. We won‘t let anyone take advantage of you ever again.“

„It‘s been _years_!“

„But, did you change?“ June asks, nudging her foot below the table. „Grow a spine and some healthy judgement skills and we‘ll leave things to you, but until then, we gotta make sure you‘re in good hands.“

„ _Guys._ “

The two girls ignore her as Inna walks around the table and covers Lucifer‘s eyes with her hands. Then, the trial starts. „Question number one: What‘s Lise‘s eye color?“

„Green,“ Lucifer replies calmly, sounding confident in his answer. Elise is actually surprised at that, because she can‘t remember most eye colors except the ones of her family and her two best friends. 

„Off to a good start, I see,“ June is the next one to speak, her chin resting on her folded hands as she stares Lucifer — whose eyes are now freed from Inna‘s hands — down with an intense glare. „Her favorite meal?“

„Semolina pudding.“

„Someone has been paying attention,“ Inna compliments, then takes a seat next to June. „Favorite music?“

„Metal and Rock, although she doesn‘t care about the genre as long as she likes the music.“

„Favorite color?“

„Black.“

„Favorite animal, aside cats?“

„Snakes.“

„Date of birth?“

Lucifer continues replying to each and every question with accurate answers that hit the nail on the coffin, and Elise is left speechless. Some of these things she has mentioned to him briefly, whereas other things have never been brought up. Even June and Inna seem impressed, because they know Elise doesn‘t bring up all of that randomly, nor quite often. 

Inna and June exchange a look, before June turns to Elise. „Wow, I don‘t know if you got yourself some very attentive boyfriend there or a stalker.“

„I, for one, prefer the term _attentive boyfriend_ ,“ Lucifer smirks as he takes a sip of his wine. After setting it down, he waits for the next question, but June and Inna seem at a loss.

„Time for the ultimate question?“ June asks. Inna nods, and they both turn to Lucifer once more. 

„Alright, last question. What made you fall for Lise?“

Elise expects him to give them a standard answer, one that will suffice to gain their approval. What she didn‘t expect was for him to look at her and put a hand on her cheek as their eyes meet, gently stroking a loose strand of hair behind her ear.

She has never seen that tender look in his eyes before, looking at her as if she‘s the most precious thing walking on earth. Suddenly, her throat feels dry, and she gulps silently.

„When I met you, I knew you were special.“

When they met, he looked like he wanted to kill her because she was the most annoying thing ever with her _this is just a dream_ attitude, but she supposes _special_ is a word to describe a lot of different things, weirdos included.

With his free hand, he grabs Elise‘s and intertwines their fingers. „I always put work first and never let anything interfere with it. That‘s why, when I found myself thinking more and more about you while I was trying to do paperwork, I knew I already fell for you. Your kindness and warm smile are mesmerizing, the first time I heard you laugh I couldn‘t stop thinking that I want to hear more of it, that I want to be the reason why you‘re happy. Seeing you spend time with my brothers set a fire ablaze in me, and I wanted nothing more than to drag you away from them and make you mine.“

Elise is feeling hot all of a sudden, the blush rising to her cheeks and making it hard for her to think straight. It only gets worse when he bows his head and places a kiss on the back of her hand. „That‘s why I will be forever grateful that you chose me as the one to be with.“

He meets her eyes once more, and Elise‘s heart skips a beat as he smiles at her. 

„I love you, Lise. Truly and deeply.“

Elise is left speechless, and so are her best friends. The only one whose composure still remains is Lucifer, who sits back up straight while his attention remains on Elise alone, not minding June and Inna staring at them or asking them if his answer was good enough.

Which is exactly what June and Inna wanted him to do, and he knows it.

„For a second I thought he was going to propose,“ Inna places a hand on her heart, the shock slowly subsiding. 

„I might be a fool in love, but I know that I am not to propose on another woman‘s wedding day,“ Lucifer replies calmly. 

June cups her cheeks in her palms and looks at Lucifer like she‘s about to cry. Instead, she‘s sulking. „I need a girlfriend like that.“

With that, Lucifer gained their temporary approval. Inna stays for a while, before joining her husband and her parents-in-law at another table. 

After an hour or so, it‘s time for the dance. Elise watches Inna and her husband with adoration in her eyes. „Aren‘t they just perfect for each other?“

She hears something shift next to her, and before she can realize what Lucifer is doing, he‘s already on one knee and kisses the back of her hand. Elise, who thought she‘d be spared for the rest of the day, flushes.

„May I ask for this dance?“ Lucifer asks. Elise doesn‘t want to reject him, but—

„I… can‘t dance, actually,“ she admits shyly. Lucifer takes it with amusement, before he gets up and drags Elise into a standing position as well. He then offers her his arm. „Just follow my lead.“

Which turns out to be the worst advice, because Elise still manages to step on his feet and do all the wrong steps possible. She knows that she‘s an utter disappointment and that Lucifer‘s skill should have turned the dance into a decent one because usually, people who can‘t dance at least know how to adapt to a good dancer, but — Elise is a lost cause.

Lucifer notices that as well — her stepping on his feet repeatedly being enough to give him the hint — and changes his approach, his hands firm on Elise‘s waist and hand as he pulls her closer, her nose almost touching his chest.

And then, it works out. Instead of him expecting Elise to copy his steps, he simply avoids Elise‘s feet while leading the dance, and although Elise can‘t see how it looks like from the outside, she feels like Lucifer turned the tables in their favor. 

Or maybe, being so close to him that she can smell his alluring scent just messes with her head so much that she doesn‘t register anything else anymore.

„When we‘re back, I need to teach you how to dance,“ Lucifer speaks. Elise almost shivers as she can feel the vibration of his chest, and feeling a bit stupid with her face so close to him but not completely, she closes the gap and rests her head on his chest.

He‘s warm.

„I think that might be a task that‘s going to drive you insane,“ Elise laughs. „I have two left feet when it comes to dancing. June was my dancing partner during the mandatory graduation dance, and somehow I still fucked up despite all of our practice sessions.“

„Is that why you‘re so keen on doing the man‘s steps?“ Lucifer smirks. 

Elise didn‘t even notice that she tried to do that and wants to bury her face deeper into Lucifer‘s chest to hide her embarrassment. „Please don‘t tell me there are a lot of dances at RAD.“

„There are quite a few, actually.“

„Guess I‘ll die, then.“

„Not on my watch, human.“

—

The celebration continues until late in the evening. Elise wishes to stay as long as possible to spend more time with June and Inna, but when more and more guests leave and it‘s almost just Inna, her husband and their close family, Elise doesn‘t want to overstay her welcome. 

As such, June, Lucifer and Elise excuse themselves. Inna thanks them once more for coming and gifting her such wonderful wedding gifts — Elise went out of her way to get her a beautiful gem inscribed with magic and Simeon‘s blessings to keep her from harm, even if she has to leave out the part that angels and magic are real — before she turns to Lucifer with the sweetest smile she can muster. „Break her heart and I‘ll break your kneecaps until you can never walk normally again and wither away in misery and unhappiness.“

Lucifer nods and takes Elise‘s hand in his. „I wouldn‘t want it any other way.“

Trying to ignore how his words — and the fucking gesture — make her feel, Elise turns her attention to Inna‘s newlywed husband. Like her best friend, a sickly sweet smile graces her lips. „If I hear any complaints about you, I‘ll send my demons after you.“

Lucifer snorts at that, while everyone else takes it with humor and shrugs it off as a joke.

It wasn‘t a joke, though. But they don‘t need to know that just yet.

After saying their goodbyes, June drives Lucifer and Elise to their hotel. Too tired from the long day, Elise can‘t even muster up the strength to waste any thoughts on how weird sleeping with a naked Lucifer is and just accepts it as it is.

—

„Lise, no.“

„But I insist!“

Lucifer pinches his nose in annoyance at her stubbornness. After checking out of the hotel, Elise asked him if there‘s anything he‘d like to do before returning home, so they ended up visiting a shop selling vinyl.

Thing is, Lucifer doesn‘t have any Human Realm currency on him. He only wanted to check out what they‘ve got in stock, but when Elise noticed he wasn‘t going to buy anything, she took the ones he showed interest in and was about to head to the counter, if Lucifer hadn‘t stopped her.

„I had a great time with you, so take this as a token of my appreciation,“ Elise keeps going. Once she makes up her mind, it‘s hard to stop her. 

Especially when she wants to do someone a favor. „It‘s hardly any money anyway. You might not believe it, but when I‘m not wasting any money on video games, merch, or spoil my cats, I‘m actually quite good at saving up. Once you know how to save money when you run your errands, it‘s easy.“

„And how do you save money?“ Lucifer inquires. Elise looks at him innocently. „By spending as little money on food as possible and survive mostly on bread?“

„I‘ll pretend I didn‘t hear that.“

In the end, temptation gets the better of him and he allows Elise to buy him the vinyls. He wants them, and he‘d be a fool to turn down what‘s presented to him on silver plate.

On their way back to the portal that‘s going to take them to the Devildom, comfortable silence falls between them.

It‘s Lucifer who‘s the one to break it with an unexpected question.

„Do you miss the Human Realm?“

Elise tears her eyes away from the train‘s window and blinks in surprise. „Huh?“

Lucifer coughs to clear his throat, before rephrasing his question. „Do you wish to return home?“

Furrowing her eyebrows, Elise eyes Lucifer, trying to make sense out of the sudden change in mood. Diavolo asked her something similar, whether she‘s unhappy in the Devildom, so she can‘t help but wonder if she really gives off the wrong impression.

„How come you ask that?“, Elise asks in return, without answering his question. Lucifer doesn‘t push her to reply to him first, and instead elaborates. „Your behavior around your friends. I can‘t remember a single time I‘ve seen you that open and free around my brothers and me.“

„Well, you‘re comparing a friendship of over fifteen years with my relationship to people I‘ve known for barely even two months,“ Elise makes herself comfortable in her seat without breaking eye contact. „But to answer your question, home is wherever my cats are. I don‘t miss the Human Realm as long as they are with me and I‘ve got a way to contact the people I care about. It‘s not like only seeing my friends every few months is something out of the ordinary ever since we graduated high school. Our friendship is unbreakable, and no matter how much time passes, we‘ll always love each other.“

She shrugs and laughs, or rather makes a pathetic attempt at it, one Lucifer can see right through. „You know, I don‘t really have a family. I got mom, and I got my best friends, and that‘s about it. Sometimes, I feel like I‘m not really needed anywhere.“

No longer able to look into Lucifer‘s eyes, afraid that he‘ll read more than she intends for him to see, Elise looks out of the window again. Then —

„My brothers would miss you,“ there‘s a slight pause. „And I would, too.“

Her head shoots in his direction, and he‘s just there. Smiling. 

He doesn‘t even have to play a role anymore, so why…?

„I think we all already accepted you as part of our family.“

Elise doesn‘t realize that she started crying until Lucifer leans forward to wipe away her tears.


	8. The Seventh Brother

First thing Elise does back at the House of Lamentation is greet her cats and cuddle with them. Afterwards, she takes care of her third pet, Mammon.

He‘s still sulking over Lucifer having spent three whole days with her alone, but he calms down once Elise sits down with him on her couch and runs her fingers through his hair as they watch anime. When Elise sends Levi a message and invites him too, however, Mammon suddenly changes back to being unhappy. 

„Some nerve ya got there, thinkin‘ the Great Mammon isn‘t enough for you,“ he huffs, crossing his arms in front of his chest but not making a move to get up from Elise‘s lap. His head is still resting on it, enjoying the special attention she gives him.

Elise isn‘t quite sure she understands, but keeps playing with his hair nonetheless. „Levi is my friend too, Mammon. I want to spend time with both of you.“

„Yes, but….!“ Mammon struggles with the right words and groans in frustration. Then, he takes her hand and touches their pact mark, his touch sending little shocks through her skin and making the hair on her neck stand up.

Although he‘s merely touching the back of her hand, it‘s… the hidden meaning behind it, the strong bond they share, it makes the gesture feel intimate.

„I‘m ya first man, don‘t ya ever forget that!“

Before Elise can reply, another voice beats her to it. With a disgusted face, Leviathan looks at Mammon hogging up Elise‘s attention. „Wow, Mammon is calling himself first man as if the pact means he can automatically romance the heroine. That‘s cringe, bro.“

„Shaddap, otaku!“

Elise looks at him with furrowed eyebrows, trying to scold him although she’s not doing a good job at looking intimidating. „Don‘t use otaku as insult!“

„Gah—“

Whether Mammon gulps because he made Elise mad or because the pact worked its magic on him, Elise doesn‘t know. It doesn‘t matter, as long as he stops upsetting Leviathan. 

They are two episodes into the anime Elise is currently watching as she receives a message on her D.D.D.. Or rather, it‘s a warning.

**Big softie Beel:** Asmo is looking for you. Majolish has some big sales.

Elise turns pale. Oh no, oh fuck, _no._

Asmo and shopping is already a deadly combination, add sales and her life is over for sure. He‘d put her in so many clothes and drag her around that at the end of the day, her arm would be dislocated and all muscles sore. 

„It was nice knowing you, but now I must run for my life.“

With that, Elise takes off and runs wherever her feet take her to seek shelter and hide. She finds a staircase she‘s never seen before and runs up, hoping it won‘t lead her right into one of these horror story scenarios where going up makes it impossible for her to escape death.

As it turns out, death doesn‘t await her up there, but another person. He‘s sleeping, eyes closed as he rests against the door leading to the attic.

Or well, he seemed to be sleeping, because once Elise is on top of the stairs, he snarls at her in annoyance, eyes still closed. „Fuck off, Lucifer. I don‘t want to hear any of it. The past few days without you getting on my nerves have been the best ever since you locked me up in here.“

Elise doesn‘t move, doesn‘t speak, too surprised — shocked, to be more accurate — to know how to react. And, since she doesn‘t do anything, the person eventually opens his eyes, equally surprised as he notices that it‘s, in fact, not Lucifer who‘s paying him a visit.

Everything inside Elise screams at her to run, to act as if nothing happened, pretend she never saw anything and go on with her life. Whatever this shit here is, she‘s not supposed to get dragged into that mess. 

But, at the same time, it feels wrong to ditch. 

She takes a step closer and breaks the silence, her voice neutral, analyzing the situation. Because one thing‘s for sure—

„You‘re Belphegor.“

Pictures of him are not just inside the House of Lamentation, but also in her History textbook. He‘s the Avatar of Sloth, the seventh of the brothers, and also… someone who is supposed to be in the Human Realm right now, after some big fight with Lucifer no one dares talking about.

Belphegor furrows his eyebrows, eyeing the intruder in front of him, before he smiles at Elise. „It seems like I don‘t have to introduce myself.“

Elise sits down, facing Belphegor on the other side of the door. She doesn‘t know what to say, except—

„You and Lucifer sure had a big fight if he‘s going that far.“

At the name drop of his brother, Belphegor scoffs. Figures, Elise thinks, she also wouldn‘t be happy talking about the very person who locked her up as well. 

Part of her doesn‘t want to believe that Lucifer would lock up his own brother, keeping him prisoner and lying to all of his brothers about his whereabouts, while another part of her reminds her that there must be a reason behind his actions. 

„It‘s all Lucifer‘s fault,“ Belphegor growls. There‘s far more than just a bit of resentment in his voice. „He misunderstood my point, and locked me up in here because we have different opinions about this exchange program and he doesn‘t like mine. But you—“

He looks her straight into the eyes, his face desperate, begging. He reaches his hand through the door, as if grasping at his last straw of hope. 

His voice breaks as he continues. „You‘ll get me out of here, right? I just want to see my brothers, and talk things out with Lucifer...“

Elise feels her heart clench inside her chest. She feels bad for him, she truly does, because from the little tidbits of information she got from Beel, his twin brother is an amazing person. He described _„Belphie“_ as the person who knows him best, who‘s always looking out for him, somebody he can always rely on, his other half — 

His other half that has been ripped away from him.

Elise feels something tighten around her throat, making it hard for her to speak. She shudders, and it takes her all her courage to reply to his request.

Her answer falls short.

„No.“

Belphegor‘s face drops, and Elise feels even more guilty now. Not quite able to grasp the situation, not wanting to believe what he just heard, Belphegor repeats her reply in a whisper. „No…?“

„Listen, I‘m sorry,“ Elise apologizes, and while Belphegor likely won‘t believe her, she means it. „However, Lucifer wouldn‘t lock you up in here without a valid reason. Mammon does shit all the time and the worst punishment he received so far was being strung up from the ceiling. I‘ll try to help you, but I won‘t backstab Lucifer and break you out of here.“

Dejected, Belphegor glares at her. There‘s no trace of his friendly smile any longer. „You sure love being his lapdog.“

„I trust him,“ Elise replies, equally serious. „And I want to trust you too, but as of now, you‘re a prisoner behind bars for whatever crimes you‘ve committed. You said you want to talk things out with Lucifer, so I‘ll see what I can do about that.“

Belphegor sneers at that, and Elise decides to leave him alone. He‘s obviously not happy about her answer, but that‘s all she‘s willing to do for him without knowing anything about his fight with Lucifer.

—

„You… did _what?_ “

„I met Belphegor.“

Lucifer pinches his nose in annoyance, trying to keep it together. Elise requested a talk between just the two of them the moment he returned home from his meeting with Diavolo that was held right after they returned for the Human Realm, and although she‘s trying to act tough, she‘s actually dying in her seat because Lucifer looks _mad_.

„I had to run away from Asmo, so I tried to hide somewhere I‘ve never been before. I didn‘t tell anyone about the encounter, because I feel like I should talk to you about it first.“

If possible, Lucifer seems to be a bit more relieved after that piece of information. He takes another few seconds of just recollecting his thoughts, before he removes his hand from his nose and intertwines his fingers to rest his chin on them. „You are not to talk to anyone about this. Actually, I‘ll have to curse you to make sure you won‘t reveal that secret.“

Elise‘s heart drops at that. On one hand, she can understand that Lucifer has to make absolutely sure nothing will slip, but on the other hand — he doesn‘t trust her to keep her mouth shut. 

It hurts, more than she expected it to do.

„That‘s fine with me,“ it absolutely isn‘t, but whether she wants to be cursed or not won‘t matter because Lucifer will do it anyway if he sees it as a necessity. She sighs. „If you‘re going to make me physically unable to talk about it, will you at least tell me why you locked him up? Belphegor tried to win my trust, but I doubt you‘d go to such lengths if he didn‘t do some seriously bad shit.“

„He was about to commit severe treason,“ it‘s not much of an answer, but it‘s already more than Elise could have hoped for. Maybe Lucifer doesn‘t distrust her that much after all, and Elise is glad that she decided to come to him immediately instead of keeping secrets.

„And to prevent him from doing that, you locked him away so he couldn‘t get punished,“ Elise figures. Lucifer nods silently, which is all he needs to do to confirm her suspicion. 

„How long do you plan on keeping him away?“

„Until he has calmed down, which might take another hundred years or so,“ Lucifer replies, his eyes focused on drawing ancient letters on Elise‘s skin. Despite trying to fight it down, his touch and the cold ink make pleasant shivers run down Elise‘s spine.

„I feel kinda bad for him. He looked sad when he said he missed his brothers.“

„Don‘t, because it‘s his own fault for being stubborn. Whatever pitiful face he made in front of you was just an act to gain your favor. He is, unfortunately, quite good at manipulating people.“

Elise considered that possibility, but hearing it from Lucifer upsets her even more. She‘s been used. 

Or, well, Belphegor _tried_ to use her. If she hadn‘t known Lucifer for a while now, she might actually have fallen for it.

„If he was about to commit treason, but didn‘t actually do it, it means he can return home once he changed his mind, right?“ Elise looks up at Lucifer who had to get up from his seat to draw more symbols on her arm. She‘s hoping for a ‚yes‘. 

He has to disappoint her, though, as he shakes his head. „It‘s impossible to change his mind. His resentment runs deep. Too deep to be fixed.“

Elise closes her eyes in defeat. If that‘s how it‘s going to be, there‘s nothing she can do. She could try talking to Belphegor again, but if Lucifer assumes he‘ll never change, her efforts will likely bear no fruition.

Lucifer finishes the curse, and Elise can feel a sudden surge of warmth tie around her tongue. It‘s gone as fast as it appeared, leaving nothing but the knowledge that his spell worked. 

Ready to take her leave and let this topic rest for now, Elise gets up. Before she turns around, though, she steps closer towards Lucifer and wraps her arms around him, her face buried in his chest as she pulls him into a hug.

Judging by the way his body stiffens, he didn‘t expect her to do that after he just cursed her tongue.

„Thank you,“ she mumbles, her words muffled by his clothes, but still loud and clear enough to reach his ears. After a long delay, he puts his arms around her as well. „For what?“

Elise pulls away and smiles at him. „For not getting mad and hearing me out.“

His expression, which remained rather serious and distanced throughout their talk about Belphegor, softens at that. He pats her hair with one of his hands and sighs. „You‘re a strange one.“

„I like you too.“

„You do?“

„Otherwise, I wouldn‘t put so much trust in you and hug you.“

—

Elise can‘t sleep well for the next few days. Her usually boring, mundane dreams have turned into nightmares, gory depictions of her death by the hands of monsters.

The first few times, she could force herself to wake up as soon as she realized she was in a dream. However, once her nightmares turned into more realistic situations leading to her death, it got harder to escape her own subconsciousness. 

And then, after a week of constant nightmares, Belphegor started appearing in her dreams, offering her a hand whenever she needed one to get out of a dangerous situation and save her own life. 

„Thank you,“ Elise whispers out of breath, her throat hoarse after screaming from the top of her lungs. The demon who just attacked her lies to her feet, his head ripped off by none other than Belphegor.

Belphegor, who lifts his hand and wipes away her tears as he offers her a comforting smile. „I won‘t let anyone hurt you.“

Her dream ends there, and Elise wakes up even more tired than she was before heading to bed. One look at her D.D.D. tells her it‘s five in the morning, and that she has two unread messages.

**Pawtan:** Come to my room.  
 **Pawtan:** It‘s important.

The timestamp indicates that the messages are from twenty minutes ago, and while Elise questions why the hell Satan is awake at 4:40am on a school day, she figures he should still be awake and wait for a reply.

As such, she sends him a quick message and gets up. It‘s too early for her to bother about getting dressed adequately, so she heads over to his room wearing her shorts and a tank top. 

Which is, apparently, not a sight Satan is used to, because the moment he opens his door, he just kinda stares for a few seconds before regaining his composure and dragging her into the room, one hand covering his mouth as he coughs awkwardly. 

„I should have mentioned that you should dress warmly,“ Satan says. Elise tilts her head, asking him to continue, which he does once he finds a spare jacket and throws it at her. „We‘re heading to the garden.“

As weird as his request is, Elise chooses to go along with it. Satan always knows what he‘s doing.

Well, most of the time, he does. Hopefully, this is one of those times.

It‘s only when they stand on the garden‘s large lawn that Satan explains the reason behind their secret, and definitely curfew-breaking late night date.

„I recreated the spell which is blocking your magic out.“

Elise immediately perks up at that. Granted, she‘d listen to Satan explaining something to her anytime — yes, even at five in the morning — but this being about her seemingly unsolvable magic problem finally getting solved just makes her listen extra hard. 

Satan wastes no time visualizing the spell, and as his own magic sinks into the ground and carves ancient letters and symbols into it, his greenish energy illuminating them, Elise forgets how to breathe.

It is, without a doubt, the largest, hugest, most detailed spell she‘s ever seen. And now, she realizes why Satan wanted to go outside, because his own room wouldn‘t even be able to cover a tenth of what he‘s pouring into the ground right now. 

Elise can‘t take her eyes off it, the familiarity of his magic making her skin tickle as it spreads, even causing the air to feel electric all of a sudden.

„Amazing, isn‘t it?“ Satan mutters next to her. Not finding any other words to describe it, Elise nods, still gawking at _all this fucking magic_ around her. 

„It‘s a transportation spell, hidden behind several thousand layers of protection. Whoever made it didn‘t want their code to be cracked, and they made sure of it. In addition to that, they wrote it in a way that it‘s physically impossible for anyone but them to break the spell once it‘s casted, as it will reject anyone else‘s magic.“

„It doesn‘t look anything like the spells in the textbooks,“ Elise tries to find any pattern she could recognize, but there‘s not a single one. 

„That‘s because it isn‘t supposed to look like one,“ Satan explains. „Ordinary, as well as advanced transportation spells are fairly easy for talented magic users to understand. Even now, after I figured out it‘s a transportation spell behind your inability to manifest magic, I cannot tell where exactly it transports your magic to. When you try to tap into your magic, it might go to the one who put this spell on you so they can use your magic themselves, or it‘s sent to another dimension altogether.“

Elise turns to Satan. „I assume you came up with a way to track it down?“

„That, I did,“ he smirks. „We‘ll make a pact.“

Taken aback, Elise doesn‘t know how to respond. In the end, all she can muster is a confused „Pardon?“, followed by the wish that she misheard him.

Of course, she didn‘t. She doesn‘t get lucky like that, ever.

„You and I will make a pact. It‘s necessary for us to make one, as I cannot continue my research without intermingling our magic — which is only possible if we share a deep, unbreakable bond. In other words, a pact.“

„But—“

Elise wants to protest, but Satan cuts her off. For the first time ever since they started spending more time together, he‘s harsh with her. „I believe you don‘t understand, so I will clarify once more. This isn‘t a simple request, it‘s a demand.“

It‘s hard for her to understand his thought process. „You want me to be your master, just so we can track down my magic? A pact requires profits for both sides, so what‘s in it for you? As much as I like you, I don‘t want to give up my soul.“

„I have no interest in that soul of yours,“ Satan replies coolly. And, while it‘s supposed to make Elise happy, it kinda sounds like an insult coming from a demon.

He takes a step closer towards her and lifts his hand, his index tapping her forehead thrice. „What I‘m interested in is up here. Whoever made that spell is a genius who doesn‘t lack in magic nor knowledge, so I must find them. If this is a spell they made hundreds of years ago, who knows what they are capable of nowadays?“

He‘s leaving her no choice but to accept, and Elise knows it. In order to be able to use magic, she‘ll have to act as a compass for Satan so they can find whoever has been locking away her family‘s magic for generations, otherwise she‘ll have to continue living with the bitter knowledge that magic is real and she‘ll never be able to use it. 

Closing her eyes, she braces herself for the pain that‘s about to come. „Make a pact with me, then.“

The same burning sensation crawls up her body, then down her arm, before settling on the backside of her right hand and joining Mammon‘s and Leviathan‘s pact marks in a circle around a pentagram. 

It still hurts like a bitch, but Satan is courteous enough to cast a spell on her to make the fire under her skin die out quickly. 

By the time they are done, it‘s 5:30am and neither of them feel like staying up until classes start. They split up and return to their rooms for a quick power nap before breakfast.

Elise doesn‘t even realize that she forgot to return his jacket until she‘s lying face-down in her bed, trying to fall asleep. However, she‘s too tired to get up again and will likely bother Satan if she knocks on his door now, so she decides to postpone the return date. 

As she drifts off, she can only admire how warm the fabric feels around her shoulders, and that her bed smells a little bit like him now.


End file.
